KEN KUSMER
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS - The 12th Indiana lawsuit to accuse former Catholic priest Harry Monroe of preying sexually on boys alleges he abused the same teenage victim more than 50 times until the Archdiocese of Indianapolis transferred him.

The complaint filed Monday in Marion Superior Court in Indianapolis alleged the abuse began in 1975 when the boy was 13 and Monroe was a new priest posted to St. Monica's Catholic Church on Indianapolis' northwest side. The abuse allegedly continued over four years while Monroe took subsequent postings at two other parishes in other parts of the city.

The abuse occurred in rectories at all three parishes, at a house on Lake Tippecanoe in Kosciusko County, about 35 miles southeast of South Bend, and in getaways to Brown County, said the man's attorney, Patrick Noaker of St. Paul, Minn.

The Rev. Dennis R. Sewar, 55, who was charged with a misdemeanor of third-degree sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to attempted endangering the welfare of a child, also a misdemeanor.

Rochester City Court Judge John E. Elliott sentenced Sewar to one year of probation but warned him that he could face 90 days in jail if he violates conditions of his probation.

Sewar was charged with touching the boy's clothed genitals in 1999 in the rectory of a Rochester church. The charge to which he pleaded guilty alleged that he attempted to endanger the child's mental, moral or physical well-being.

Four monks pleaded not guilty to charges alleging a boy was sexually assaulted at a Texas monastery that draws thousands of visitors every year, officials said Monday.

Authorities raided the Christ of the Hills Monastery last week in search of "instruments of child abuse," Blanco County District Attorney Sam Oatman said.

The four monks, plus another serving a 10-year prison sentence for indecency with a minor, were arrested and indicted after a young man claimed he had been assaulted at the monastery beginning in 1993, when he was in his teens. Oatman said another accuser has come forward, and others could follow.

Three of the monks appeared in court in shackles and orange corrections jumpsuits Monday and entered not guilty pleas to charges of sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity. Monastery founder Samuel Greene, 61, who is ill, was not in court but has pleaded not guilty, Oatman said.

JOHNSON CITY, Texas Three monks pleaded not guilty in court today to charges of sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity at a Hill Country monastery.

The monks were charged last week after a raid at the Christ of the Hills Monastery, near Blanco. Blanco County District Attorney Sam Oatman says the raid was to search for what he called "instruments of child abuse."

The indictments relate to one boy allegedly assaulted while a teen, starting in 1993.

A PRIEST at the centre of a sex abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic Church in South Africa has died in a car crash — on the eve of his trial for indecent assault.

Father James McCauley, arrested in March, was killed last weekend on his way home after dinner with three friends in Cape Town.

He was due to stand trial in September.

An investigation by the Sunday Times uncovered allegations that he sexually abused at least four young men over a period spanning 20 years.

McCauley, a Redemptorist, retired in 2003 after the newspaper revealed how the Catholic Church conducted its own investigation into a complaint that he sodomised a Sudanese refugee, Adam Okot. The church cleared McCauley.

Since the sexual-abuse scandal involving Roman Catholic priests broke more than four years ago, thousands of lawsuits against clergy and dioceses in cities across the country have been tried or settled for an estimated total of $1.5 billion.

But more than 700 such cases filed against the dioceses in San Diego (160) and Los Angeles (560) have languished since 2003. This is by far the largest collection of priest-abuse cases anywhere.

Attorneys representing adults who say they were molested decades ago as children argue there is a simple reason that none of the cases has gone to trial: Church officials here and in Los Angeles have been masters at stalling.

July 30, 2006

By Robert King
robert.king@indystar.com
Wherever Harry Monroe lived in his 10-year journey through Indiana as a Catholic priest, claims of child sexual abuse followed.

There was the altar boy at St. Andrew parish in Indianapolis who says Monroe robbed him of his ability to believe in God.

There was the boy in the youth group at St. Patrick in Terre Haute, who became so depressed after his encounters with Monroe, his mother says, that he withdrew from life and died in an apparent suicide before his 20th birthday.
And there was the boy in Tell City, along the Ohio River, who wanted to be a priest himself one day -- until, he says, Monroe stole his innocence.

Now, Monroe and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis face 11 civil lawsuits from men, now in their 30s and 40s, who claim Monroe sexually molested them when he was a priest from 1974 through 1984.

Even after all these weeks, you can still feel the tension between them. Emily Rivera shakes her head in disbelief as her mother speaks. Her mother talks haltingly, carefully, and still it's just seconds after we've all sat down in their living room before they find themselves at odds.

"If he did it..." Rivera's mother starts.

"If?" Rivera exclaims, incredulous. "Mami there's DNA."

"DNA," Rivera repeats, "How do you explain that?"

Her mother sits, quietly. She can't.

It's been like this between them ever since Hartford minister Modesto Reyes got arrested five weeks ago, accused of repeatedly raping and impregnating an 11-year-old parishioner.

DARIEN -- It was a day of anger but also a day of recovery, officials at St. John's parish said yesterday.

After parishioners were sent a copy of a report last week detailing exorbitant financial improprieties at St. John Roman Catholic Church, the Rev. Frank McGrath, the new pastor, told those at 4:30 p.m. Mass yesterday that it was understandable to "still be in shock," but he also advised them to be strong.

"We are moving in the right direction," McGrath said. "We're in this together."

During his homily, the Rev. Walter Orlowski of St. Matthew's Church in Norwalk, told parishioners to read the entire 27-page report describing how St. John's former pastor, the Rev. Michael Jude Fay, misspent an estimated $1.4 million in church donations to lead a life of luxury with another man.

July 30, 2006
'The truth is tough' for parishioners at St. John's
It was a day of anger but also a day of recovery, officials at St. John's parish said yesterday.

July 17, 2006
Darien case spotlights church problem
Money goes missing from an affluent Catholic church in Fairfield County. Parish insiders suspect the pastor. They take the matter to the Diocese of Bridgeport.

After I first read the list of priests who should never be near children, I mainly was relieved not to recognize any names.

As the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese says it regularly updates the list on its Web site ( www.archmil.org), you're never off the hook. You think of priests you knew as a kid, especially popular ones - the guitar players, the ones who ran retreats: Please, not them.

It's one more cloud in the decades-long storm. The evil let in by this sexually abusive fringe of the priesthood, and the bishops who mishandled it, is only now clear. The worst pain was inflicted on victims, but the most widespread damage was to the faith of every Catholic.

Then came lesser consequences, lawsuits among them. The Milwaukee Archdiocese says it's already paid $11 million. About that much is on the line in 10 cases in California, where Father Siegfried Widera, busted here in the 1970s, went in the '80s and continued his predation. Milwaukee inadequately warned Californians, say plaintiffs.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan has warned Milwaukee Catholics that while the church's structure here probably will keep parishes from being seized in lawsuits, the cost could be bankruptcy.

The extremely highly-publicised and much-debated incident which involved the 46-year-old so-called deacon, Donovan Jones of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, three young men and a 13-year-old girl, has certainly marked a defining moment in the struggle for the human rights of Jamaican women and girls.

This writer does not intend to rehash the horrific implications of this incident for both the Church and the state. Instead, I wish to highlight a few issues that should force us to treat such serious matters as more than 'nine-day wonders' in our society.

First of all, the criminality of the deacon, the internalisation of evil and hatred of women and girls in young men and the vulnerability of young girls to the erosion of their selfhood should force the Jamaican society to both take a look at what is happening around us and to ensure that we stop rationalising the evil acts of evil men.

Secondly, in the words of fellow journalist Ian Boyne, we need to recognise the cultish dimensions of organised religion. And against this realisation, we need to cult-proof our children, especially our young girls.

ARLINGTON – Terry Hornbuckle was a rising-star preacher with a growing church, friends in the NFL and a million-dollar house under construction.

One of the women accusing him of rape once said that Mr. Hornbuckle's fate is now in the hands of God. But a Tarrant County jury will have the first say as testimony in the pastor's criminal trial starts this week.

Jury selection began Friday. He faces three counts of sexual assault and one count each of retaliation, tampering with a witness and possession of methamphetamine.

A paedophile church minister who used his social skills as a priest to groom young boys whom he subjected to sickening sex attacks was jailed for life yesterday.

Simon Thomas was told by Judge Jeremy Burford QC at Southampton crown court that he would serve a minimum of eight years in prison before being eligible for parole.

Thomas, who is 44 and married with four children, was also given a sex offenders' prevention order banning him from communicating with children. He was banned from working with children and placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Thomas, who served as a minister with the United Reformed Church in Hythe, Hants, pleaded guilty last month to 35 charges including two offences of rape against an 11-year-old boy.

A Roman Catholic priest accused of molesting three boys in Phoenix more than 25 years ago will be returned to Arizona to face charges.

The Rev. Joseph Henn had been living at the Salvatorian order's headquarters in Italy. The Italian high court ordered his extradition to Arizona on Thursday, according to the Catholic News Service. He should return to Arizona within 45 days.

A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Henn in 2003 on 13 counts related to child molestation. He was arrested in Rome in July 2005 and has been fighting extradition ever since. advertisement

If convicted, he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison, according to previous reports.

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley has agreed to meet Friday with local leaders of Voice of the Faithful, marking the first time in nearly three years that he has sat down with the lay reform group that has energized a group of active churchgoers but is viewed with skepticism by some conservatives.

O'Malley's office downplayed the significance of the meeting, and said the cardinal has not revised the Archdiocese of Boston's policy toward the group, which includes a ban on meetings in parishes by chapters formed after October 2002, when the group was first banned by Cardinal Bernard F. Law .

O'Malley last met with the national organization in November 2003 and said he would reconsider the ban, but he did not make any change.

But leaders of the organization, which was formed in Wellesley at the height of the clergy sex abuse crisis in February 2002, view the gathering as symbolically significant, in that it demonstrates O'Malley's willingness to talk with a group that has been demonized in some quarters of the church.

By John Christoffersen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A priest who resigned from a church in an affluent Connecticut community misspent up to $1.4 million in parishioner donations to lead a life of luxury with another man, according to a church-directed investigation.

The Rev. Michael Jude Fay spent church money on limousines, stays at top hotels, jewelry, Italian clothing and a Florida condominium shared with the other man, auditors hired by the diocese found. About half the money he spent was kept in a secret bank account, according to their report, which was mailed Friday to 1,700 parishioners of the Darien church and obtained in advance by The Associated Press.

Bridgeport Bishop William Lori, who ordered the investigation by Deloitte Financial Advisory Services, said he was shocked and angered by the findings. The report also was sent to federal authorities.

"The amount of money that was misused is tremendous," Lori said. "I think this report and other things we found out shows a real betrayal of trust and abuse of power."

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said Friday his decision to investigate Catholic officials for possible violation of sex abuse reporting laws was not an about-face, but a natural evolution of the case against fugitive priest Xavier Ochoa.

"After the Ochoa matter was evaluated, then and only then did we make a request to have the Sheriff's Department investigate the mandatory reporting matter," said Passalacqua, interviewed at his Santa Rosa office.

The Rev. Xavier Ochoa, a Sonoma priest now believed to be in Mexico, is accused of 10 felony counts and one misdemeanor count of child sex abuse involving three males.

A Santa Rosa Diocese lawyer reported abuse allegations in a fax to Child Protective Services three days after Ochoa admitted sexual improprieties to Bishop Daniel Walsh and other church officials. A day later, the diocese sent the information to the Sheriff's Department.

JAMES Rogers, 18, who is charged alongside former deacon of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, 46-year-old Donovan Jones, for the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year old girl in the back of a van during April, was yesterday granted $500,000 bail when he appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.

Rogers was accused of video-taping the alleged sexual abuse of the girl.

Appearing before Magistrate Desiree Alleyne, Rogers - a Haitian national - was ordered to surrender all his travel documents and his birth certificate, while a stop order was put into effect for him at all the country's ports of entry.
Rogers was also ordered to report to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station every day between the hours of 8:00 am and 8:00 pm.

VANCOUVER (CP) — As legal action in the investigation into a B.C. polygamist commune looms, the province’s attorney general will be meeting with his Arizona and Utah counterparts next week to discuss the situation in their jurisdictions.

Wally Oppal said the investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the Bountiful commune in southeastern British Columbia is continuing and may yield results soon.

"We are optimistic that something will happen soon," Oppal said. "We are really concentrating on one area and that is the area of the apparent sexual abuse and the sexual exploitation."

But, Oppal said, that does not mean the province is not concerned about allegations of polygamy at the commune just south of Creston and only metres from the U.S. border.

People at the commune are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

There have long been allegations of sexual abuse at the commune and rumours of charges against leaders of the community such as Winston Blackmore have long been whispered.

Donovan Jones, the former Dayton Avenue church deacon, who is at the centre of the sexual molestation offence against a 14-year-old Corporate Area schoolgirl, yesterday had his stay in jail extended until September 8.

Mr. Jones, 46, was ordered remanded by Resident Magistrate Desiree Alleyne, when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court. His co-accused, 18-year-old James Rodgers, was granted bail in the sum of $500, 000 with two sureties.

Ring of four

Both men are part of a ring of four charged with molesting the schoolgirl. Jones was entrusted with the responsibility of taking her home from school.

Earlier this month, the other accused, the 18-year-old Shamar Morgan and a 15-year-old youth, both pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault. They will be sentenced on the day Mr. Jones and Mr. Rodgers return to court.

CLINTON, Iowa A former youth minister and reserve police officer has been sentenced to up to ten years in prison on a sexual abuse charge.

Theodore Hacker of DeWitt pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree sexual abuse and agreed to immediate sentencing. Police say he engaged in a sex act with a 14- or 15-year-old girl on or about March 1st and continuing through April 7th.

Hacker was arrested April 12th by the DeWitt Police Department. He had served as a reserve captain for the department, and was dismissed from that volunteer post after his arrest.

Two days before his arrest, he resigned as pastor of student ministries at DeWitt Evangelical Free Church.

By Grant Boxleitner
gboxleitner@news-press.com
Originally posted on July 29, 2006

A former Fort Myers pastor stands accused of molesting at least three young boys at his home and church office, court records show.

Russell Lee Brown, 53, of 2 Kingsman Circle — the long-time pastor of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in east Fort Myers — is one of the top-sought fugitives in Lee County, according to Trish Routte, coordinator of Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers.

Recent information from investigators suggest Brown may be in Kentucky or Atlanta. He's facing some very serious charges, and he's had ample opportunity to turn himself in, Routte said.

A MASSACHUSETTS state court overnight sentenced a Roman Catholic priest to four years in prison for sexually assaulting a youth in the 1980s.

The sentencing of Father Paul Hurley, 62, is the latest black eye for the Archdiocese of Boston in a sex scandal that erupted in 2002.

The archdiocese has had to close more than 60 churches and schools after incurring millions of dollars in costs from settling lawsuits filed by people who said they had been sexually abused by priests as children.

According to a statement from the Middlesex County district attorney, Hurley assaulted a 15-year-old boy at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Cambridge, just north of Boston, in 1987 and 1988.

July 28, 2006 - A former Roman Catholic priest sentenced to state prison for molesting a young boy was recently beaten up by another inmate, an attorney for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said Friday.

Michael Wempe was sentenced in May to three years in prison after a jury found him guilty of a single count of molestation. Wempe, 66, will probably spend less than a year in prison after credit for time served, prison work and good behavior.

Donald Steier, an attorney who represents priests accused of sexual abuse, said Friday that Wempe's sister told him of the assault in a recent telephone conversation.

A Sandwich priest was sentenced yesterday to prison time and probation in connection with a sexual assault on a child in a Cambridge church during the late 1980s, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.

CAMBRIDGE -- A Middlesex Superior Court judge sentenced a 62-year-old Catholic priest to four years in state prison yesterday for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy nearly two decades ago, saying that the testimony portrayed ``a predator devoid of restraint."

The Rev. Paul William Hurley of Sandwich was found guilty last month of raping the South Boston boy in the rectory of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Cambridge in 1987 and 1988. Hurley paid the boy $80 to $100 for sex, knowing that he would use the money to buy drugs, authorities have said.

``Because the law presumes conclusively that a child lacks the capacity to give meaningful consent, any act of intercourse with a child is punishable as rape," said Judge Hiller B. Zobel before imposing the sentence.

Hurley's lawyer, James J. Coviello, said he had hoped for a sentence of probation, ``given the vintage of the case." He said his client planned to appeal the sentence.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - A former Roman Catholic priest sentenced to state prison for molesting a young boy was recently beaten up by another inmate, an attorney for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said Friday.

Michael Wempe was sentenced in May to three years in prison after a jury found him guilty of a single count of molestation. Wempe, 66, will probably spend less than a year in prison after credit for time served, prison work and good behavior.

Donald Steier, an attorney who represents priests accused of sexual abuse, said Friday that Wempe's sister told him of the assault in a recent telephone conversation.

"I've spoken to his sister who advised me that he had been beaten up and it was done by a cellmate and they removed the cellmate and Wempe was fearful for his life," Steier said. "We don't know anything more than that."

A PAEDOPHILE church minister who subjected young boys to sickening sex attacks was jailed for life today.

Simon Thomas was told by judge Jeremy Burford QC, at Southampton Crown Court, that he would serve a minimum of eight years in prison before being eligible for parole.

The 44-year-old married man with four children was also given a sex offenders prevention order banning him from communicating with children. He was also banned from working with children and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Thomas, who served as a minister with the United Reformed Church in Hythe, Hants, pleaded guilty last month to 35 charges including two offences of rape against an 11-year-old boy.

(AP) SCRANTON, Pa. The Vatican has defrocked a former priest and University of Scranton instructor who admitted to charges of attempted sexual abuse and indecent assault involving a former altar boy.

The Diocese of Scranton says the dismissal means Albert Liberatore cannot function as a priest, hold parochial or administrative office in the church or teach theology in a Catholic institution.

Liberatore pleaded guilty in June to attempted sexual abuse in New York. He admitted groping a 17-year-old during an overnight trip to a New York City hotel.

Eight days earlier, Liberatore had admitted in court he had sexually assaulted the same young man in Luzerne County beginning in 1999. He was sentenced to 10 years probation in New York and had to register as a sex offender.

About 50 claims for money from an $85 million settlement of allegations of sexual abuse against priests or other employees of the Diocese of Covington have been rejected as not credible, attorneys involved told a special judge Thursday.

The special masters overseeing the fund have received nearly 400 claims, Robert Steinberg told Special Judge John Potter.

As the search for fugitive priest Xavier Ochoa moves south into Mexico, details have emerged that paint a more sinister pattern of alleged sexual abuse.

Until this week, most of the information released about the investigation has described a Sonoma Valley priest who collected pornography and frequently touched and kissed young Latino boys.

But in documents supporting the federal no-bail warrant issued this week against Ochoa, investigators say the Roman Catholic priest brought a 15-year-old boy - now an adult in his 30s - from Mexico and installed him in his diocese-owned residence where the two engaged in regular, sometimes violent, sex.

"If victim No. 3 refused to cooperate with Ochoa, Ochoa would violently rape him," wrote Sonoma County Sheriff's Detective Ruben Martinez. "Victim No. 3 thought Ochoa had sex with him two to three times a week for approximately one year.

Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh said it didn't occur to him to immediately report to police that priest Xavier Ochoa had admitted sexual misconduct with young boys, as required by law.

Walsh said his first concern was to remove Ochoa from any contact with children and said he was not focused on making a report. It wasn't until four days after the admission that a diocese lawyer notified the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department.

By the time deputies began looking for him, Ochoa had fled. He is believed to be in Mexico.

As for calling authorities sooner, Walsh said, "It didn't even cross my mind. But when you're dealing with a crisis, you don't think about those things. I wanted to make sure that he didn't function as a priest, so he didn't have access to kids."

The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office has ordered an investigation into whether the bishop and other Roman Catholic Church officials violated the state law that requires immediate notification by telephone of sex abuse suspicions.

BOSTON -- Childhood victims of sexual abuse would have another 12 years to report the crimes under a bill passed yesterday in the Senate. The legislation would increase the statute of limitations to 27 years from its current 15, giving childhood victims until they are 43 years old to report sexual crimes. Currently, the law gives victims 15 years to report a sex-abuse crime after the victim's 16th birthday.

Supporters say the legislation is a much needed step toward better protecting children from sex offenders; though many advocates for victims of child sexual abuse were pushing for throwing out the time limit altogether.

Opponents, however, argue that limitations minimize the risk of people being wrongly convicted many years later, when evidence is scarce and memories not as sharp.

By MELODY McDONALD
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
FORT WORTH — Jury selection is scheduled to begin Friday morning in the trial of the Rev. Terry Hornbuckle, the charismatic minister who is accused of sexually assaulting five former members of his Arlington church.

Hornbuckle, 44, has been indicted on six charges of sexual assault, involving five women; a charge of possession of a controlled substance; a charge of tampering with a witness; and a charge of retaliation. He is expected to be tried on three of the sexual assault charges, involving three women, during his trial, which is expected to begin Wednesday morning in state District Judge Scott Wisch’s court.

Each offense is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

Hornbuckle, the leader of Agape Christian Fellowship, has denied all charges.

The state Senate voted yesterday to extend the statute of limitations for child sex abuse claims by 12 years, raising hopes the Legislature will send the governor a bill before it recesses for the summer.

The Senate approved a bill passed by the House late Wednesday that would increase the statute of limitations from 15 to 27 years after the accusers' 16th birthday, giving them until they are 43 to report sexual crimes.

The House bill would also require sex offenders to register at least 10 days before they leave prison, verify that they are living in a homeless shelter within 45 days of release, and, among other provisions, require the most dangerous sex offenders who fail to register to submit to lifetime community parole supervision.

``We feel that we've passed the most sweeping sex offender legislation since the inception of the sex offender registry," said Representative Tom Golden, a Lowell Democrat who has been one of the bill's main supporters. ``We're closing loopholes, increasing penalties, and expanding the opportunities for prosecutions. It's all done to protect our citizens from these heinous crimes."

A Clark County man has been arrested and charged with sex crimes against a 14-year-old boy, and police say there may be other victims .

Mark Myers, 44, faces four felony charges, including sodomy. Police say Myers befriended boys at church and over time, lead sex-oriented group gatherings in his home. Finally a teen told a relative about the gatherings, launching the police investigation.

A Clark County man faces several criminal charges accusing him of sexually abusing an underage boy.

Mark Alan Myers, 44, of 1120 Old Ruckerville Road was charged on Wednesday with third-degree sodomy, first-degree unlawful transaction with a minor, promoting a sexual performance by a minor and use of a minor in a sexual performance.

All the charges filed so far against Myers involve one alleged victim, who was 14 years old when the abuse allegedly began in 1998, according to Capt. Arlen Horton of the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Horton said he expects to charge Myers with at least 25 additional felony counts involving approximately 10 juveniles between the ages of 12 and 17.

According to Horton, Myers befriended most of the boys through his work at a church, which Horton declined to name.

A pastor of a pentecostal church in Moyo district, Uganda is on the run over allegations that he defiled 12 refugee children.

Moses Lodiyo, a teacher at Lema Primary School in a Sudanese refugee settlement, is alleged to have seduced his pupils with gifts. The biggest population of the school are Sudanese refugees whose families fled southern Sudan over insecurity.

“A shocking report was made at the Moyo police station recently implicating Lodiyo in sexual abuse of 12 girls at Lema Primary,” the north-western regional police commander, Francis Makmot-Okello told journalists on Wednesday 26 July 2006. Makmot-Okello said the pastor used to reportedly demand for sex from his victims in exchange for scholastic materials.

By Steven Martens | Friday, July 28, 2006
CLINTON, Iowa — A former DeWitt youth minister and reserve police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to a sexual abuse charge and was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

Theodore Lee Hacker, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree sexual abuse for engaging in a sex act with a 14- or 15-year-old girl on or about March 1 and continuing through April 7.

He agreed to immediate sentencing before Clinton County District Judge David Sivright, who denied a request for probation.

Hacker was arrested April 12 by the DeWitt Police Department, for which he had served as a reserve captain. He was dismissed from that volunteer post after his arrest.

Hacker resigned as pastor of student ministries at DeWitt Evangelical Free Church two days before his arrest.

The pastor of a Grenada church is accused of molesting a teenage boy, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the boy's mother. The family also is seeking damages from the church for "concealing the sexual molestation of young minor boys," according to the lawsuit.

The suit accuses the Rev. Perry L. Montgomery, 72, pastor of First New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Grenada, of fondling the boy in April when he was 14. The Clarion-Ledger does not identify victims of alleged sexual abuse.

Montgomery did not return calls left at his home and office, and the attorney listed as the church's agent of record is deceased, a church receptionist said.

First New Hope is a member of theAbuse Tracker Baptist Convention USA, the largest African-American denomination with 7.5 million members.

The indictment against a former area priest for the sexual abuse of a local boy more than 20 years ago brings up a topic that needs closer inspection by lawmakers.
The names of the priest and of his alleged victim are not important in the context of what has us puzzled, which is this:
Why, with all the technological advances in criminology, is there still a statute of limitations on brutal crimes or, for that matter, at all?
There was a time when the law, while maddening, made sense. Trials of cases from more than 20 years in the past were hard to conduct, as they relied strictly on faulty memories or evidence that was deteriorating due to age. Today's advances make that concern antiquated.

By DAVE JANOSKI djanoski@leader.net
The Vatican’s decision to remove admitted child molester Albert M. Liberatore Jr. from the priesthood is a rare and severe punishment for the former Duryea pastor, a step one church observer said is “analogous to the death penalty.”

Liberatore is serving 10 years’ probation for sexually abusing a teenage boy from 1999 through 2004, beginning when the boy was 13. The victim has sued Liberatore and officials from the Scranton Diocese in federal court, alleging the diocese was aware of abuse allegations against Liberatore in 2000, but took no meaningful action until 2004.

Liberatore’s removal or “laicization,” is a “fairly rare step” usually “reserved for the most serious and most egregious violations,” said John L. Allen Jr., senior correspondent in Rome for theAbuse Tracker , an independent newsweekly sold in 96 countries. “It’s the supreme penalty under canon law. It’s fairly rarely invoked.”

Only 72 of the 2,902 priests accused of sexual abuse listed in an online database maintained by the independent, nonprofit group BishopAccountabilty.org have been laicized. All but 11 of the laicizations occurred after American bishops set up new, stricter guidelines for handling such allegations in 2002.

The victim's attorneys argued that Special Judge John Potter's order violated the promise of anonymity given to more than 300 people seeking to collect an $84 million settlement with the diocese.

Potter didn't rule on a request to tear up his order, leaving it unclear when he might try to enforce it, something the victims' attorney vowed to fight in appeals court.

Potter said the goal of his order was to make sure the perpetrators are brought to justice - not to out sex-abuse victims.

"This is not about reporting the victims," Potter said. "This is about reporting the perpetrators. The focus of the order is to bring the perpetrators to the attention of the prosecutorial authorities."

The Catholic Church in South Africa is currently investigating at least 24 incidents of sexual abuse by priests -- 12 cases in Cape Town alone. Some of these are “historical cases” and happened years ago. In most of them, the victims were children when the sexual abuse took place.

Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) general secretary Father Vincent Brennan said this week: “We do recognise that there is a problem. We don’t see this as a Catholic problem, though -- it’s a problem in our society. As far as I know, 4% of the adult male population internationally abuse children. Our levels of abuse in South Africa are higher. The church is very worried. There is no room in the Catholic priesthood for anyone who abuses the young.”

Last Friday a retired Catholic priest, James McCauley (65), was involved in a fatal car accident in Cape Town four days after he appeared in court on charges of sexual abuse and indecent assault of children. McCauley’s trial was due to take place at the end of September.

Numerous claims of sexual misconduct had been made against him throughout his career. At one stage the church sent him to the United States for psychological help.

July 27, 2006

Fox 10 News has uncovered new information about a Catholic priest deputies want to talk to, but say they can't find.
When Father Tim Evans arrived at St. Margaret's Catholic Church in Bayou La Batre, longtime church member Henry Barnes said he went to welcome him at the church's rectory. "He was putting down a little patio. Him and some young boys," Barnes said. "I noticed they were drinking beer. They were in their teens. They weren't old enough to drink. "
In the months that followed, Barnes said he saw strange things from his post at the top of the town's drawbridge. Barnes worked there as the bridge tender at that time. "There'd be 20 or 30 of them over there. Mostly boys staying in the rectory with him," he said.

Associated Press
BURLINGTON, Ky. - Names of sexual abuse victims involved in a class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington will have to be turned over to prosecutors, a judge said Thursday.

Judge John Potter said he would let a previous order to disclose the names stand despite the objections of attorneys.

Attorney Stan Chesley, who represents the victims, argued Thursday that giving the names to prosecutors could result in them becoming public. He said that might lead to victims being unwilling to participate in the case.

FOR MORE THAN three decades, officials at Salesian High in Richmond insisted that a former altar boy who claimed to have been sexually abused by one of the priests at the school was making it all up.

Last week, however, a Contra Costa jury disagreed. It awarded $600,000 to Joey Piscitelli, a 50-year-old Martinez man who testified that the Rev. Stephen Whelan, a teacher and vice principal, abused him during his freshman and sophomore years from 1969 to 1971.

Piscitelli is now a coordinator for an organization called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

That such a group even exists -- and that it has members all over the country -- is in itself an abomination.

Piscitelli's story is sickeningly familiar. A priest who is supposed to be teaching children how to become moral citizens, instead uses his position of trust to abuse minor children.

Management at Gormanston College was aware of abuse perpetrated by Fr Ronald Bennett but did not remove him from his post, it has emerged.

Complaints were made against the Franciscan priest in 1973 to a member of management at the college in Co Meath by the parents of one of the boys he abused. The parents were given assurances that the priest would no longer be allowed to be alone with boys, but he continued abusing until 1981.

Bennett was yesterday given a five-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to six sample charges of indecent assault of boys at the college.

The boys abused by him were summoned to his office over a tannoy system and waited outside until a set of "traffic lights" turned to green and signalled that they could enter.

CROSSVILLE (WATE) -- Cumberland County Minister Benji Persinger was in court Wednesday answering to charges he fondled a 14-year-old child while members of his church youth group were at his house.

Before the hearing, Persinger sat in silence with his arm around his wife for support. Just a few feet away sat his accuser, a 14-year-old girl, with her Mom and a friend.

The court room was so quiet you could hear the floor creaking and the sniffles of the accuser. When the girl took the witness stand, she described through her tears what happened at Persinger's home on February 26.

"He was talking about how nice our bodies were and what a cute butt I had," she said.

Kochi, July 27: Sabarimala Thantri Kantararu Mohanaru, who was sacked as head priest of the temple for his alleged involvement in immoral activities, today lashed out at the Travancore Devaswom Board for ousting him and said the whole episode was a fallout of the 'Devaprasnam' conducted recently at the shrine.

"The board had no right to sack me from the post," the priest told a TV channel here. Mohanaru said he suspected a conspiracy to "trap and defame" him.

He said the whole episode was a fallout of the 'Devaprasnam' (astrological examination of temple affairs) during which he had opposed certain atonement rituals.

BURLINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Lawyers for victims of a class-action lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington are fighting a judge’s order to have the victims’ names turned over to prosecutors.

The victims reached an $84 million settlement with the Covington Diocese in January. The settlement covers 361 victims who claim they were abused over a period of 50 years by priests in a diocese that once included 57 counties across a large swath of Kentucky.

Lawyers for the victims were expected to appear in court on Boone Circuit Court on Thursday to contest an order filed by Special Judge John Potter.

Advocates for victims of abuse by priests say Catholic Church secrecy and state law combine to deny victims their day in court.

It often takes decades for victims to come to terms with the abuse and come forward, they say. And if the abuse occurred in the 20th Century—before a recent state law that gives victims until age 30 to pursue a civil case—their legal options are closed.

"I'm not out for money," said one alleged victim, speaking on condition of anonymity because some of his relatives aren't aware of his abuse allegations. "I want to make sure no child has to suffer what I went through.

At least 25 priests in the Scranton Diocese have been accused of sexual misconduct involving minors since 1950, according to a diocesan report. The diocese has never identified all of the accused, but some of their names have become public because of arrests, lawsuits or their removal from ministerial duties. The Times Leader has been able to identify 11 priests accused of sexual misconduct, including three deceased priests whose cases have never received widespread publicity.

In two of the 11 cases, priests have been removed from active ministry for what the diocese calls "sexual misconduct" or improper conduct," but the ages of their accusers when the conduct occurred have never been revealed.

Typically, priests who have been proven to have abused children are forbidden to say Mass for others or to dress or act as a priest in public. But they remain priests.

BOSTON --House lawmakers voted Wednesday to extend the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse by 12 years.

Under the bill, which now moves to the Senate, the statute of limitations would be increased to 27 years from its current 15, giving childhood victims until they are 43 years old to report sexual crimes.

"The passage of this legislation in the House today is a good, solid step toward better protecting Massachusetts residents, specifically our children, from sex offenders," said Minority Leader Brad Jones, R-North Reading.

Opponents, however, argue that limitations minimize the risk of people being wrongly convicted many years later, when evidence is scarce and memories not as sharp.

Advocates for victims of child sexual abuse had pushed for lifting the statute of limitations completely, saying it sometimes takes decades for victims to face the abuse they suffered as children.

The state's four Catholic bishops have endorsed extending the statute of limitations, as has Attorney General Tom Reilly, who supports eliminating the time limit altogether. The clergy abuse scandal was the impetus for the legislation.

The United States is in the midst of a civil rights movement for children, and not a moment too soon. Not long ago, children were, in effect, treated as their parents' property, and the law did little to protect them from harm. Today, however, there is increasing legislative movement in their interest, and in particular to protect them from violent crimes. But there is still a long path to travel.

On Tuesday, July 25, the House sent President Bush the "Adam Walsh Bill," which institutes a national database of convicted child molesters, increases penalties for sexual and violent offenses against children, and creates a RICO cause of action for child predators and those who conspire with them. (For more on the potential uses of RICO - the federal Racketeering-Influenced Corrupt Organizations statute -- to combat conspiracies fostering child abuse, see my prior column on the possibility of using the statute against churches that covered up abuse and transferred abusing clergy.)

The bill was backed by John Walsh, of "America's Most Wanted" fame. In 1981, Walsh's six-year-old son Adam was kidnapped and killed. Walsh subsequently founded theAbuse Tracker Center for Missing and Exploited Children and dedicated his life to the protection of children. To Walsh's credit, his personal nightmare and what he learned from it have led to great public benefit.

Another attempt will be made Wednesday to get bail for the former church deacon and a teenager at the centre of the sex abuse case.

Their lawyer, Paul Beswick is expected to make bail applications when the case comes up in court.

The attorney is also expected to cross-examine two policemen from the Half Way Tree police station who arrested the deacon.

Tuesday the attorney questioned the arresting officers during the trial which was held in camera.

The former church deacon, Donavon Jones, and the teenager, James Rogers, are charged with nine counts of indecent assault, three counts of assault with intent to rape and one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault.

BLANCO — Bill Elsbury sat in a pickup Wednesday afternoon outside the entrance to the Christ of the Hills monastery, where the television vans had gathered again.

Seven years ago, an investigation headed by Elsbury, the Blanco County sheriff, had brought camera crews to the hilltop monastery when its founder and another monk were accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

Father Jeremiah went to prison. Father Benedict got 10 years of probation and returned to the monastery, where the monks carried on and the pilgrims continued to visit the weeping icon of the Virgin Mary.

Elsbury said Wednesday that he thought there were more victims but that he couldn't prove it in 1999. So he waited.

"As far as we're concerned, our investigation into their behavior and this type of criminal conduct . . . never ceased," Elsbury said.

SAN ANTONIO — A bishop said he was troubled by seeing a boy dressed as a monk at a Central Texas monastery where five men have been accused of child sexual assault charges, but he was told the boy's presence was "our tradition."

Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church Bishop Michael Jachimczyk said he visited the Christ of the Hills Monastery near Blanco once or twice a year in the 1990s and sometimes saw the boy roaming the grounds.

"It was something that always bothered me," said Jachimczyk, who didn't know if the boy he saw is the one who was allegedly sexually assaulted.

Former Church Dayton Diamond Ridge deacon, Donovan Jones, and his co-accused James Rodgers are to return to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court for the third time in three days today.

Yesterday defence attorney Paul Beswick cross-examined another of the arresting officers involved in the sexual assault case related to a 13-year-old schoolgirl. The questioning of the police was centred around the events leading to Jones arrest on July 5.

The police said they saw Jones in the church, which was closed, but by the time they got inside he was gone. Jones was arrested at his home off Waltham Park Road. The defence is contending, however, that Jones was not at the church when the police arrived.

LOS ANGELES -- The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles may be ordered to review its personnel files on priests to find reported cases of sexual abuse, according to a tentative ruling Wednesday.

The decision by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Haley J. Fromholz would enable alleged victims to discover if priests had other accusers, and if officials were aware of the allegations. Those determinations could affect damages awarded to victims.

"The court is saying that we're out to get information from all alleged perpetrators since 1930," said plaintiffs attorney Anthony M. De Marco. "The court is coming on the side of saying the plaintiffs need to gather information here."

To determine if the personnel files are relevant, and if any privacy issues exist, the documents may be reviewed by a third party, Fromholz said.

The public inquiry into Cornwall's sexual abuse allegations enters a new phase with the announcement of an advisory committee to help the community to heal.

The first phase (investigating claims of child sexual abuse and the response by the justice system of the day) continues, but this phase two reaches out to the community.

Local community and business leader and Gail Kaneb is the lone local member on the advisory panel, which also includes former RCMP Commissioner Philip Murray, Jesuit priest Father John Loftus from Boston, clinical psychologist Dr. Peter Jaffe, and Eganville consensus building specialist Dr. Benjamin Hoffman.

BLANCO — With most of its monks incarcerated, the nearly deserted Christ of the Hills Monastery was left to pets and journalists Wednesday.

Its famed "weeping icon" was seized with computers and other evidence Tuesday by law enforcement officers who also arrested three of the four monks living at the enclave on charges of sexual assault of a child and organized crime.

Also indicted Monday were the monastery's founder, Sam A. Greene Jr., who's been staying in Austin because of poor health, and Jonathan Hitt, a former monk already serving time for a separate abuse conviction.

Doors on offices and homes at the vacant monastery were unlocked. Some stood open.

Meanwhile, in nearby Blanco, residents read news accounts and traded rumors about the latest scandal to envelop the mysterious men in black who opened the monastery outside town in 1981.

Father Francisco Xavier Ochoa, 68, is wanted for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on 10 felonies, including lewd acts with a child, forcible sodomy and oral copulation.

Ochoa was suspended from the Diocese of Santa Rosa in April after admitting an incident of sexual misconduct with a 12-year-old altar boy. Bishop Daniel Walsh didn't notify law enforcement until three days later, giving Ochoa time to flee to Mexico, authorities said.

Ochoa also had confessed to molesting two other boys more than 10 years ago, authorities said.

July 26, 2006

CORNWALL, ON, July 26 /CNW Telbec/ - Justice G. Normand Glaude,
Commissioner of the Cornwall Public Inquiry, today announced the appointment
of the members of the Cornwall Inquiry Advisory Panel.
The panel will play an important role in the Inquiry's Phase 2 mandate to
foster a healing environment for the Cornwall community. Panel members will
work with Inquiry staff to: ensure a strong research agenda supportive of the
Inquiry's work; give thorough consideration of policy issues and options in a
holistic, multi-disciplinary environment; and provide opportunities for public
and professional input germane to Phase 2 recommendations and activities.
As the activities in Phase 2 will generally occur outside the formal
hearing processes, some panel members will be active in reaching out to
communities within Cornwall to understand the community's perspective on its
needs. Panel members expect to consult with those who have experienced
childhood sexual abuse as well as with community professionals in order to
find ways to optimize positive opportunities in the areas of healing and
reconciliation for the future.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Tuesday to bipartisan legislation cracking down on sexual predators and child abuse.

The Senate approved the bill last week and sponsors expect President George W. Bush to sign it on Thursday, the 25th anniversary of the murder of six-year old Adam Walsh, for whom the bill is named.

"This important measure will arm our states and local communities with the tools they need to combat the threats posed by sex offenders and violent criminals," Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, said.

There's more information Tuesday night on a criminal case against members of an Austin-area monastery.

The case involves child molestation and what detectives call "organized crime" at the Christ of the Hills Monastery, off County Road 103 in Blanco County. Sexual assault, child pornography, drugs and even mail fraud are alleged to have taken place there.

KXAN spoke with one of the monks facing child sex charges. He says he's getting his strength from God. Cops in Blanco County say that he's going to need it.

BLANCO, Texas Law enforcement officials raided a hilltop monastery near Blanco in Central Texas this morning after getting indictments accusing five monks of sexually assaulting a boy there about 13 years ago.

The Blanco County Sheriff's Office and federal investigators continued to search this evening, K-X-A-N television station in Austin reports.

Samuel A- Greene Junior, the 61-year-old founder of the Christ of the Hills Monastery, was among those charged with sexual assault of a child and engaging in organized crime relating to the assault. That's according to Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.

LAST UPDATE: 7/25/2006 10:15:13 PM
Posted By: Walker Robinson
This story is available on your cell phone at mobile.woai.com.

Law enforcement officials raided a hilltop monastery near Blanco in Central Texas this morning after getting indictments accusing five monks of sexually assaulting a boy there about 13 years ago.

The Blanco County Sheriff's Office and federal investigators continued to search this evening, according to reports.

Samuel A. Greene Junior, the 61-year-old founder of the Christ of the Hills Monastery, was among those charged with sexual assault of a child and engaging in organized crime relating to the assault. That's according to Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.

Greene -- who also faces one count of sexual performance with a child -- was already on probation after pleading guilty in 2000 to nine counts of indecency with a novice monk.

The sheriff says that the current investigation began a year ago after Greene reportedly admitted that he'd sexually assaulted several children more than a decade ago at the monastery.

The founder of Christ of the Hills Monastery in Blanco County and three other monks were arrested Tuesday on charges of sexual assault of a child and organized crime, according to the Blanco County sheriff's office.

A fifth monk, imprisoned in Beaumont on a previous sexual assault conviction, also was charged in the case Tuesday.

William Edward Hughes, 55, known as Father Vasilli; Walter Paul Christley, 44, known as Father Pangratios; and Hugh Brian Fallon, 40, known as Father Tihkon; were arrested at the church in the 2400 block of Trainer Wuest Road, police said. They were being held at the Blanco County Jail on Tuesday night. Officials said their bail amounts would be set by a judge Wednesday morning.

Founder Samuel Alexander Greene Jr., 61, was arrested Tuesday afternoon when he returned to the monastery after visiting a nursing home in Austin, Blanco County authorities said. He was charged with sexual assault of a child, organized criminal activity/sexual assault of a child and sexual performance of a child. Officials said Greene was released on bail Tuesday.

Jonathan Irving Hitt, a 45-year-old monk who was charged Tuesday with sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity, is serving a 10-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old novice monk. He was convicted in 1999 on eight counts of indecency with a child. The novice, who was 14 when the accusations were made, said he had been molested by Hitt and Greene.

Donovan Jones, the former Dayton Avenue church deacon and his co-accused, 18 year-old James Rodgers, were yesterday remanded in custody by Resident Magistrate Deseree Alleyne when they appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

By Liz Fabian
TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
A 22-year-old Laurens County man who served as a volunteer church youth worker is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met at the church.

A Bibb County grand jury returned a four-count indictment Tuesday charging Matthew Garland Lee with two counts of aggravated child molestation, and one count each of statutory rape and child molestation.

Lee, an emergency medical technician with The Medical Center of Central Georgia, was volunteering at Vineville United Methodist Church when the alleged molestations took place between March 3 and April 29, according to a Macon police incident report.

The victim's mother confronted Lee after first learning he had sex with her 14-year-old daughter, but he begged her not to say anything, the report stated.

BLANCO — A bid by Samuel Greene Jr. to clear his conscience instead implicated the controversial founder of Christ of the Hills Monastery and four followers in alleged sexual assaults of two boys there in the 1990s, authorities say.

Dozens of local, state and federal investigators swept into the religious enclave at dawn Tuesday with indictments returned Monday and a warrant to search the 105-acre site for evidence of sexual misconduct, said Blanco County Sheriff Bill Elsbury.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a complete fraud," he said of the monastery that opened in 1981 and housed a so-called "weeping icon" that once attracted thousands of pilgrims each week.

An affidavit filed in support of a search warrant quotes Greene, who's on probation for indecency with a novice monk in 1997, as admitting he'd molested untold numbers of boys since the 1970s.

Vermont's Catholic Church has lost its fight to bar a judge from presiding over 22 upcoming priest misconduct lawsuits.

The statewide Diocese of Burlington had sought the removal of Chittenden Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph from its cases after he oversaw a record $965,000 settlement in an initial lawsuit this spring.

But the state's chief administrative judge, Amy Davenport, denied the church's request Tuesday after reviewing court videotape of Joseph's dealings with the diocese.

"While the diocese may disagree with Judge Joseph's legal analysis, and while the rulings were adverse to the diocese, there is no indication that the decisions were based on favoritism towards the plaintiff or antagonism towards the diocese," Davenport wrote in a 10-page decision.

An administrative judge ruled Tuesday that Judge Ben Joseph has not shown bias against the statewide Roman Catholic Diocese and can continue to preside over 22 priest abuse cases pending in Chittenden County Superior Court.

The diocese, after settling a sex-abuse claim brought by a South Burlington man for $965,000 in April, had sought Joseph's removal as the presiding judge, claiming his pre-trial decisions in the case were unfair to the church. The removal request was the subject of a July 5 hearing before Judge Amy Davenport.

"If anything, Judge Joseph bent over backward to provide both parties with a fair opportunity to be heard and exhibited remarkable patience in dealing with the myriad issues raised by this case," Davenport wrote in her 10-page decision.

July 25, 2006

LONDON - A former altar boy who says he was abused by a priest has written a comic book to help to educate churchgoers about clerical sexual misconduct.

The man says that as a child he suffered a series of indecent assaults at the hands of John Lloyd, a former parish priest in Treforest, who was sentenced to eight years in jail in 1998 for a series of sexual offenses.

Writing under the pseudonym Martin O'Shea, the author uses his own experiences to unveil a "perception of scenarios" likely to occur following a complaint of abuse.

In the comic book, "The Least Among Us," O'Shea and illustrator Tony Wright tell a story of how a fictional bishop tries to deal with a clerical abuse scandal.

The comic, which will be published by Ascendant Press Aug. 21, follows the classic comic strip genre. Some of the cartoons show priests breaking the news to the bishop that a priest has been accused, and others show the bishop taking hostile questions from journalists at a press conference.

(CBS 42) JOHNSON CITY Five priests at the Christ of Hills Monastery in Blanco County have been charged with sexual assault of a child.

According to the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office, William Hughes--also known as Father Vasili; Walter Christley--also known as Father Pangratios; Hugh Brian Fallon--also known as Father Tihkon; Samuel Alexander Greene, Jr.--also known as Father Benedict and Jonathan Hitt--also known as Father Jeremiah have been charged with sexual assault of a child and organized criminal activity.

Greene and Hitt are also charged with sexual performance of a child.

Greene is the founder of the monastery. In 2000 he pleaded guilty to sexual abuse charges of a minor, and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.

DUBLIN, Ireland - Ireland's Residential Institutions Redress Board has received more than 14,500 claims for compensation from people who say they suffered physical abuse or neglect while residing in industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages and other institutions.

Most of these institutions were managed by Catholic religious orders, but because they were subject to state regulation and inspection, the Irish government admitted liability and established the board as a means by which survivors of abuse or neglect could seek and gain compensation without having to go to court and undergo cross-examination.

According to the board's annual report for 2005, published in mid-July, more than a third of last year's applications for compensation were received in the final two weeks before the Dec. 15 deadline.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on Tuesday asked the state intelligence to provide all details of the controversial case involving Sabarimala priest Kantararu Mohanaru, who has been stripped of his powers.

The Additional Director General of Police in charge intelligence has been asked to examine the complaints lodged by the `Tantri` (priest) with the police and the investigations into them, Balakrishnan told a press meet here.

In a new scandal involving the Sabarimala shrine, one of its priests, Kandararu Mohanaru, was yesterday stripped of his status after police found he had lodged a false complaint about being attacked and forcibly photographed with a woman in Kochi. The police have said the priest used to visit the woman frequently, shrine sources said.

Quincy will soon lose another Catholic church when the St. Dominic and St. Anthony parishes combine.

There is no specific timetable for the union of the two parishes, but the Rev. Tom Hagstrom, pastor of both St. Dominic and St. Anthony for the past year, said he would not rule out the consolidation becoming official before the end of the year.

Hagstrom said Bishop George Lucas of the Diocese of Springfield is a proponent of the consolidation. Hagstrom said Lucas expressed why he thought it would be beneficial to both parishes when he visited Quincy for a meeting earlier this year involving about 150 representatives from both parishes. ...

"What we are seeing in the Catholic Church is the next great shortage — a shortage of parishioners, and it is really affecting rural areas and small cities like Quincy," Hagstrom said. "This is going on in every diocese. This is reality."

Along with smaller families and a fall-off in regular church attendance, Hagstrom said there is another factor in the ongoing closings of Catholic facilities. He firmly believes the 2002 abuse scandal within the church has played a major role.

"What happened in 2002 was actually a revelation of a lot of things that had been going on and had been covered up," Hagstrom said. "Many took great offense in priests everywhere who had been involved in very criminal and very serious sin, and that (sexual) predators had been tolerated.

The Rev. Neil Doherty, a retired priest who prosecutors say drugged and raped a young boy in the 1990s, can move into his own apartment, a judge decided today. Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow gave Doherty, 64, permission to move into an apartment in Lantana, in Palm Beach County.

Assistant State Attorney Dennis Siegel, however, said Doherty should not be allowed to move because he will be living alone. Currently, he lives with his sister in Palm Beach County.

For now, Doherty will have to wear the electronic ankle monitor he has worn since posting bond earlier this year.

Abe vividly remembers that wall. The "bragging wall," as he's come to call it, was crammed with certificates and diplomas. He remembers fixating on that wall as the Hasidic psychologist advised him on how to be a good boy. He fixated on it, too, when the psychologist sat beside him, the man's hand shoved down his pants, stroking Abe's genitals.

Abe was eight years old, the defiant son of a devout Orthodox Jewish family who was sent to the child psychologist in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Every Sunday for four months in 1984, he'd go for counseling in the modest house on 60th Street. Sessions started with talk of his behavior—his mischief at home, his disobedience at yeshiva. Goals were set, rewards promised. Then, Abe alleges, the psychologist's hand would be in his underwear.

"He would fondle and play with my genitals," says Abe, now a thirtyish businessman not willing to publish his last name. For this former Borough Park resident, whose Orthodox faith taught him to revere elders, the encounters were devastating. "I felt very odd, ashamed. I didn't know what to think."

Abe hid the abuse for two decades, not telling a soul, yearning to get on with life. Until, in May, he discovered what had happened to the man he claims molested him: He got away.

A former minister charged with 98 counts of incest pleaded no contest Monday in Wilson County Superior Court to eight counts of felonious incest. All other charges were dropped.

Nathaniel Rasberry, 36, of Kenly was sentenced to no less than 121/2 years and a maximum of 15 years in state prisons. Each count carried a sentence of 19 months to 23 months. He was also ordered to pay court costs and his attorney's fees.

Rasberry, a former World Vision Outreach Center pastor, entered court wearing a white shirt and gray pants. He sat quietly and emotionless during the proceedings.

It was agreed through a plea bargain that all other charges against Rasberry would be dropped. Besides the additional charges of incest, he had been charged with communicating threats, assault on a female, two counts of sex offense while in a parental role, nine counts of assault inflicting serious injury and 17 counts of statutory rape.

FORT LAUDERDALE – A retired priest from Margate who is accused of molesting, drugging and raping a boy on Tuesday was given permission to move into an apartment of his own while he awaits trial in the case.

Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow on Tuesday approved Neil Doherty's request to move from a sister's home in Palm Beach County to an apartment of his own at the The Moorings in Lantana.

Last March, Lebow granted Doherty $70,000 bond on the condition that the 63-year-old surrender his passport, stay away from children younger than 18, and not enter the city limits of Margate. He also must wear an electronic monitoring device.

Doherty, a former priest at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate, was arrested in January and faces eight counts of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious acts and molestation.

A Franciscan priest who spent many years in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is being charged with rape.

Rev. Frank Genevive was arraigned Monday in Boston.

The crime the Franciscan father is accused of committing began 28 years ago. Usually that would be well beyond the statute of limitations, meaning it could not be prosecuted. But since Genevive allegedly took Albany-area boys across state lines to Boston and then came back to New York the Massachusetts limit for prosecution was not exhausted.

Genevive taught at Troy's LaSalle Institute in the late 1980s and disappeared suddenly. He also carried out various other duties within the Albany Diocese, although a diocese spokesman says as a Franciscan he was not under direct diocese control.

Thiruvananthapuram, July 25: Questioning the Travancore Devaswom Board's powers to sack Sabarimala Thanthri (Priest) Kantararu Mohanaru after he came under the cloud of a scandal, his father and head of the family of Thantris today alleged a conspiracy against his son.

"I do not believe all these things. There appears to be some conspiracy. The truth will come out with the blessings of Lord Ayyappa," Kantararu Maheswararu, the senior most member of the Thazhamon family of Thanthris, told reporters from his residence at Chengannur in Alappuzha district.

He said the TDB had no right to restrain a member of the family from performing the traditional duties as the court had ruled that the Thazhamon family was the supreme authority on spiritual affairs of the Sabarimala shrine.

As per tradition, the members of the family take turns to perform the duties at the hill shrine every year.

Kochi, July 25 (IANS) The supreme head of the Sabarimala temple, Kantaru Maheshwaru, has come to the defence of the head priest who was sacked over reports of his alleged sexual escapades.

Maheshwaru said that he just cannot believe reports about Kantaru Mohanaru, who was sacked as thanthri or head priest by the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the custodian of the temple, Monday evening after it was alleged that he used to frequent the flat of a woman who had been held in a prostitution case.

"Such a thing can never happen in my family (thanthri family). I can make Mohanaru take an oath in front of Lord Ayyappa that he has not done such a thing," said Maheshwaru.

Meanwhile, Kantaru Mohanaru insisted that reports of his alleged sexual escapades were part of an ongoing conspiracy to malign him and he would perform the monthly puja at the temple on Aug 9.

KOCHI: In a new twist to the Sabarimala priest episode, Kantararu Mohanararu who was sacked as thantri of the shrine on Monday following allegations of immoral activities, has told police that he had visited the flat of a woman in the city on Sunday night on his own and was not abducted as stated earlier.

The priest, who appeared before the police here on Monday night with his lawyer, filed the new complaint saying he was not abducted as stated earlier and had in fact gone to the woman's flat on his own to summon a maid servant.

The thantri had, in a complaint to police on Sunday night, stated that he had been abducted by some persons and forcibly taken to a flat where he was photographed with a woman. He had also stated that his abductors had removed his gold ornaments worth 40 sovereigns.

MESA - A suspended priest's bid to win a jury trial on misdemeanor sex counts has been rescheduled until Aug. 11 by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge.

Judge Douglas Rayes originally was scheduled to hear arguments on the issue Friday. Monsignor Dale Fushek is appealing San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman's ruling that he is entitled to a jury trial on only an indecent exposure charge.

BOSTON --A Franciscan priest from New York with ties to Massachusetts pleaded not guilty to charges of raping two teenage boys from a Troy, N.Y., parish while on trips to Boston over a 12-year-period, and was released on his own recognizance.

The Rev. Frank Genevive, 51, who lives in a Franciscan retreat in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., was arraigned Monday before Clerk Magistrate Robin E. Vaughn in Suffolk Superior Court to four counts of child rape. Vaughn ordered the priest to stay away from minor children and the two alleged victims, who were between 13 and 16 years old when the alleged assaults occurred between 1977 and 1980.

Genevive was indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury last month. Prosecutors said because Genevive returned to New York after each visit to Boston, the Massachusetts' statute of limitations did not expire. He is due back in court Sept. 7 for a pretrial conference.

NORTH GREENBUSH - A former local Franciscan priest and La Salle Institute school chaplain was arraigned in Boston Monday on sexual abuse charges, stemming from incidents that occurred longer than two decades ago.
Rev. Frank Genevive, who now resides in Wappingers Falls, was charged with four counts of felony child rape for allegedly having sex with two local boys between 1978 and 1982.
The clock stopped on the statute of limitations because Genevive allegedly drove both boys to Boston, committed the sexual acts there and then returned with them to New York.
"Massachusetts law provides for tolling the statute of limitations. What that means is when a defendant leaves the state the clock stops on the statute of limitations," said Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Suffolk County district attorney's office in Boston.

Monday, July 24, 2006
By NYIER ABDOU AND JEFF DIAMANT
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
More than 300 members of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests met in Jersey City this weekend and heard from a retired Catholic bishop who, earlier this year, became the first and only Catholic bishop in America to reveal he was sexually abused by a clergy member.

"I'm honored to stand here not just before you, but with you," the Rev. Thomas J. Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, told SNAP members Saturday morning. "I am with you as a survivor."

Gumbleton, who revealed in January he had been abused when he was a teenage student in the seminary, also apologized for difficulties victims face reporting abuse, and criticized the church's handling of sex abuse scandals, saying the church has acted more like a "corporate entity" than it should.

"I find it hard how any bishop could care more about money than about children," he said. "Even if we became totally poor, that's where the church started - who cares?"

Dear Mrs Macaulay,
Can the Dayton Church officers and any members be successfully prosecuted for failure to report?

By Margarette Macaulay
I have received so many strongly worded enquiries about whether or not the founder, pastor, the deacon, other officers and/or other members of the Church of Dayton Diamond Ridge can be prosecuted under the Child Care and Protection Act 2004.

I have also been asked about the Director of Public Prosecution's statement and whether he would have to wait until he gets the file following investigations to decide, and why a file should be sent to him in the first place. I am also asked whether the DPP must rule before an officer of a church is charged. As a result of this, I have decided to reply to all these enquiries together.

More than 20 years ago, the Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, a lawyer assigned to the Vatican Embassy, tried to warn the Vatican that it was facing a potential scandal involving children and allegations of sexual abuse by priests.

Since then, the priest has worked with 2,000 victims of clerical sexual abuse and testified on behalf of victims in 200 court cases.

A new book co-written by Doyle, "Sex, Priests and Secrets Codes: The Catholic Church's 2,000-Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse," makes a case that sexual abuse has been a problem in the Catholic Church since its earliest days - even the fourth century.

Papal decrees were issued in an attempt to regulate the sex lives of the clergy, the authors say. "In days when priests were allowed to marry, we find laws telling them to avoid sex; when celibacy became mandatory for the clergy, we find laws against concubinage. We also find condemnations of homosexuality in the ranks of the clergy; the sexual abuse of minors; and the solicitation of sex by priests in the confessional."

For adults who suffered abuse as children at the hands of priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, it seems, there is little justice. Perhaps they may glean some psychological relief from counseling, but, because of Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations, there is no chance their abusers will answer for their crimes in a court of law.

That same statute has been in play in preventing alleged sexual-abuse victims from winning monetary satisfaction through civil lawsuits.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has banked on that.

The archdiocese’s lawyers drove the point home yet again last week in their motion to dismiss a civil complaint filed by attorney Stewart E. Eisenberg in U.S. District Court on behalf of 14 adults -- 12 who are named and two who are identified as "John Doe" and "Jane Doe."

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/24/06
JERSEY CITY: The Roman Catholic Church acted like a "corporate entity" in its handling of sex abuse scandals, a retired bishop told one of the nation's largest organizations for clergy sex abuse victims during a weekend conference in Jersey City.

Thomas J. Gumbleton, a former auxiliary bishop, said he had a hard time with any bishop caring more about money than children.

July 23, 2006

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (1010 WINS) -- The nation's largest organization for clergy sex abuse victims is wrapping up a weekend conference in Jersey City today.

Some 330 members of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, have been at the organization's fifth national conference, which started Friday night and ends this afternoon.

The conference included workshops on legal and political strategies for the organization's goals to further victims causes, reform the Roman Catholic church and help victims heal.

Yesterday morning, retired Catholic bishop Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, said church leaders moved abusive priests from parish to parish and held back legal reforms needed to help victims bring cases over decades-old abuse.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) _ The Roman Catholic Church acted like a "corporate entity" in its handling of sex abuse scandals, a retired bishop told one of the nation's largest organizations for clergy sex abuse victims during a weekend conference.

Thomas J. Gumbleton, who resigned earlier this year as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit, said he had a hard time with any bishop caring more about money than children.

"Even if we became totally poor, that's where the church started _ who cares?" Gumbleton said Saturday during the national conference for Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

The weekend conference in Jersey City, expected to end Sunday afternoon, included workshops on legal and political strategies for the organization's goals to further victims causes, reform the Roman Catholic church and help victims heal.

A liberal voice in the U.S. church, Gumbleton, 76, revealed in January that a priest abused him 60 years ago, a disclosure that drew attention among those who say they were abused.

JERSEY CITY -- To this day, Johnny Vega said, the sound of church bells transforms him back into the terrified boy from Paterson who was sexually abused by a priest as well as a deacon.

In those moments, his pain is raw and real. But he has learned to cope with the past and to reach out to others struggling as he has, he said.

Vega spoke about his experience Saturday at the national conference of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, the country's first support group for people abused by religious authority figures.

More than 300 people attended the conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Hudson, organizers said.

"I'm in no sense healed. I still go through pains," Vega said. But attending the last three annual SNAP national conferences has helped, he said.

Sunday, July 23, 2006
BY NYIER ABDOU AND JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
A retired Catholic bishop yesterday criticized the church's handling of sex abuse scandals, saying the church has acted more like a "corporate entity" than it should.

In a speech yesterday morning to some 330 members of the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, Thomas J. Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit, apologized for difficulties victims face reporting abuse.

The three-day national conference at the Hyatt Regency in Jersey City concludes this afternoon. Participants also attended separate workshops about tackling legal issues, therapy and lobbying political powers.

"It's become a corporate entity," Gumbleton said of the church.

"I find it hard how any bishop could care more about money than about children," he said. "Even if we became totally poor, that's where the church started -- who cares?"

In January, Gumbleton became the first and only Catholic bishop in America to reveal he was sexually abused by a clergy member.

I knew we should probably try to find her: the child who gave birth to a child; the victim, police say, of repeated rape by her pastor. But I didn't want to.

What purpose would it serve? To confirm what anyone who heard the story of a minister impregnating an 11-year-old parishioner could figure out on their own: that this was a betrayal of her trust and the trust of a whole community? Just leave her alone.

But maybe there was a story that should be told. The pastor's supporters were rallying around him, vocal and visible in their support. What of the girl and her family? Who was supporting them? And part of me needed to know that she was OK, that this horrible thing that happened to her hadn't completely erased her childhood.

Racine - Racine County District Attorney Michael Nieskes met Tuesday and Wednesday with representatives from the FBI after asking the U.S. Attorney's Office to investigate anonymous allegations lodged against Good Samaritan Hope House.

"(FBI officials) are doing a preliminary investigation and review," Nieskes said Thursday. "I'm going to give them a few days to do some work, and if they have something, they'll talk to me."

The FBI is the only agency looking into the matter, and no date has been set for when results of the investigation will be revealed, Nieskes said.

"They're very competent people. If they need other agencies, they'll get back to me," Nieskes said.

Last week, Racine County Executive William McReynolds decided to make public the allegations in light of further accusations that he had ordered the county Human Services Department to ignore the letter in which the allegations were made.

McReynolds' purported purpose, according to the letter: to secure African-American votes in his bid for state Senate election this fall.

Hope House is a state-licensed group home for juvenile delinquents and is associated with St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, which is led by Bishop Lawrence Kirby. It receives between $300,000 and $425,000 a year in state and federal dollars, and serves primarily African-American youths.

The anonymous letter, received by the county Human Services Department on May 25, alleges: thousands of dollars are unaccounted for; ghost workers are on the payroll; the facility is used to launder money; drug dealers are allowed to purchase employment; state and federal regulations for handling money and treating clients are violated; there is sexual exploitation and physical abuse of clients placed in group homes by administrative staff; and there are staff-to-staff and staff-to-client sexual relationships.

THE Department of Education is seeking to extricate itself from sexual abuse cases in primary and secondary schools on the grounds that the education minister is not, and never was, responsible for the employment of teachers. If it succeeds then hundreds of claimants face the prospect of financial ruin.

The State Claims Agency (SCA), which manages personal injury and compensation claims taken against the Irish government, has written to more than 170 people who were abused by teachers in schools. It warned them they are suing the “wrong defendant” and will be pursued for the state’s legal costs if their civil claims collapse. ...

Last week a man who was abused by John Hannon, a teacher in a Galway primary school, lost his case against the department and the Franciscan order. The 46-year-old was awarded €300,000 which has to be paid by his abuser, a former Franciscan brother. But the judge ruled that the department had no liability.

Despite the fact the Franciscan brother was a teacher, there was no employer-employee relationship between the Department of Education and the school. The Franciscans were also deemed not liable as they had no prior knowledge of Hannon’s abuse and did not employ him at the school.

The recent rulings have alarmed advocates for abuse victims, who say compensation awards levied against abusers amount to little more than “paper judgments” for victims, because most abusers do not have the means to pay large claims.

Police and church authorities are facing serious questions over how a married priest suspected of being a paedophile was set free to carry out a horrific series of sexual assaults involving hundreds of children across the country.

Simon Thomas, 44, a minister at the United Reformed Church (URC) in Hythe, Hampshire, raped boys as young as 11 in their homes while their parents were out. An Observer investigation has established that most of the offences occurred after Hampshire police and church leaders had been warned of his activities, almost three years ago. It has also emerged that Thomas committed some of his worst offences while he was free on bail, following his arrest in July 2005. The police were alerted to his most recent child abuse last summer, after the mother of a 13-year-old found out that Thomas had been telling her son to perform sex acts to be watched via a webcam. He was arrested while being chaplain for a Boys' Brigade trip in Devon.

Thomas, who has four children of his own, was released on bail last July, but continued to carry out a string of offences, including twice raping a young boy in his own home. In February the police were forced to rearrest Thomas after they realised how great a risk he posed. Most of Thomas's victims were groomed through internet chatrooms and police discovered he kept a spreadsheet with 1,500 names - more than 300 of them under the age of 16. So horrific were his crimes that on Friday he is expected to be given a life sentence at Southampton Crown Court. In June Thomas pleaded guilty to 35 counts of child abuse, but police believe the number of his victims runs into the hundreds.

Eight bishops, including a hockey player and a social worker, have emerged as leading candidates to succeed Bishop Donald W. Wuerl, who led the Pittsburgh Catholic diocese for 18 years and is now archbishop of Washington, D.C. All are seen as rising stars in the church. Five now head smaller dioceses. Three are auxiliary bishops.

According to two sources with access to the process, the papal nuncio in Washington, D.C., Archbishop Pietro Sambi, will consider all eight before he sends three names to the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, with his assessment of each. ...

BISHOP BLASE J. CUPICH, 57, of Rapid City, S.D., is a former rector of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio, a Vatican-chartered seminary, and worked for the papal nuncio to the United States in the 1980s.

He was a candidate for presidency of the U.S. bishops conference in 2004, indicating respect from other bishops. In a testament to his work with victims of sexual abuse, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests endorsed him in that 10-way race. He is chairman of the bishops' Vocations Committee, which helps recruit priests. Ordained for Omaha, Neb., in 1975, he spent six years in parish ministry, three teaching high school, and was a pastor when he was appointed to lead the Rapid City diocese in 1998.

July 22, 2006

A former minister charged with 98 counts of incest will go on trial Monday in Wilson County Superior Court. His wife is also scheduled to appear in court on different charges.

Nathaniel Rasberry, 36, of Kenly will also face charges of communicating threats, assault on a female, two counts of sex offense while in a parental role, nine counts of assault inflicting serious injury and 17 counts of statutory rape.

Rasberry's wife, Katie, is facing charges of obstructing and delaying an officer in the line of duty and felony child abuse. She posted a $10,000 bond in September.

Rasberry remains in custody at the Wilson County Detention Center under two separate $1 million bonds.

BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Written in an ancient language from the center of Catholicism, the framed letter in his office symbolizes Thomas C. Kelly's longevity as Roman Catholic archbishop of Louisville.

"You will notice that my name is fading out," said Kelly, his self-deprecating wit intact while gazing at the Latin words from the pope a quarter-century ago, signifying Kelly's appointment to the Louisville archdiocese. ...

And it weighed on Kelly, as the archdiocese was inundated with claims that a few priests had been sexual predators with young parishioners as their prey.

"I think I wept for four years at the pain," Kelly said Friday.

Kelly professed a clear conscience for his response, but said, "What I was guilty of was not understanding the depth and range of the problem."

"We seemed to get a new roster everyday of people coming forward," he said. "I'm glad they did. I'm glad they got some help from us."

By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – Former church deacon Ron Gonsalves was sentenced Thursday under the state’s expedited sentencing program, which state lawmakers designed to provide better protection for sexual assault victims as well as speed up the process of prosecuting offenders.

"I feel it is a mechanism to be used in the criminal justice system," said Maui County Prosecutor Davelynn Tengan. "It’s a tool that can be used in a positive way."

Tengan said the law benefits the victim, who does not have to testify, especially when the victim might already be feeling shame and guilt that he or she might have done something to warrant the assault.

"I guess the benefit is at least (the defendant) is admitting to it. (Also) you are letting the victim not have to go through the trauma of testifying against the defendant and reliving the whole thing," he said.

Two of the three teenaged boys charged along with a former church deacon in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl, pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on Friday.

The two, 18-year-old Shamar Morgan and a 15-year-old were granted bail in the sum of $100,000 each and ordered to return to court on September 8 for sentencing.

But the former church deacon and the other boy are in more trouble. They maintain their not guilty plea.

Prosecutors then told the court that additional charges of carnal abuse and aiding and abetting carnal abuse were being levelled against the former church deacon, Donavon Jones, and the other teenager, James Rogers.

THE sensational case of sexual assault on a teenaged girl, involving an officer of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, took a new turn yesterday when two of the youths charged along with 46-year-old Deacon Donovan Jones changed their plea to guilty.

At the in camera trial in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court, Shamar Morgan, 18, and the 14-year-old accused both pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault on the 13-year-old girl, occurring on the dates April 27, April 28, May 1 and May 2.

Both young men are scheduled to be sentenced on September 8.

Presiding magistrate Judith Pusey also granted Morgan and the 14-year-old youth bail in the sum of $100,000 each, accepting their parents as surety. Both were also required to surrender their travel documents, and to report to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays between the hours of 6:00am and 6:00pm.

As a special condition, both were also told to stay away from the complainant, her family and her place of residence. A social enquiry report was requested for the two young men.

RESIDENT MAGISTRATE Judith Pusey has ordered social enquiry reports for two of the four persons implicated in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old schoolgirl.

Shamar Morgan, 18, and a 15-year-old boy, both pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault and were granted bail in the sum of $100,000 when they appeared in the the Half-Way Tree Resident Magistrate's Court, yesterday.

Judge Pusey has also ordered that the 46-year-old former deacon of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, Donovan Jones, and 18-year-old James Rodgers remain in custody until Tuesday, July 25.

Morgan and the minor will return to court on September 8 for sentencing, at which time the social enquiry reports will be tendered.

By DAVE JANOSKI djanoski@leader.net
Ten months after a scathing grand jury report on child abuse by priests in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia recommended several changes in state law, those recommendations are working their way through the state General Assembly.

But the bill, considered the “linchpin” of the jury’s recommendations, remains stuck in a House committee. That bill would open a one-year “window” for victims of child abuse to bring civil suits, even though the statutes of limitations have expired, in some cases decades ago.

“The progress is very disappointing,” said John Salveson, media relations liaison for the Philadelphia chapter of SNAP – the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. “I think it’s due to the fact that there is strong opposition.”

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s 10 Roman Catholic dioceses, is opposed to the window bill, arguing it would produce lawsuits that would be impossible to defend because witnesses and alleged abusers might be dead.

Saturday, July 22, 2006
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of Bishop Thomas L. Dupre for more than two years may have been solved.

At a retreat in June in Pennsylvania, the former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield listed his address as St. Luke Institute, the Silver Spring, Md., facility he checked into in February 2004 upon abandoning his position amid allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

Dupre attended a retreat from June 13 to June 21 at the Jesuit Center for Spiritual Growth in Wernersville, Pa., according to an official at the retreat center.

By MELISSA TANJI, Staff Writer
WAILUKU – Former Maui Catholic Church deacon Ron Gonsalves was sentenced Thursday to one year in jail and 20 years’ probation for repeatedly sexually assaulting a boy over a three-year period.

Gonsalves, 69, declined to make a statement in court and appeared almost emotionless during his sentencing before acting 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo.

"You were in a position of trust, in a position of power. People looked up to you. It was a horrible path to take," Loo said.

"You destroyed, you harmed many, many lives. The damage you have done is going to take a long time, if ever, to be undone."

The Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa on Thursday acknowledged there were allegations of sexual abuse by a now-deceased priest while he was a teacher at a high school in the Oakland diocese in 1971.

The diocese said it learned from the alleged victim in April 2002 that Rev. Donald Eagleson committed the offense before his ordination and while he was a Holy Cross Brother who taught at Moreau High School in the Diocese of Oakland.

The diocese's statement said Bishop Daniel Walsh immediately responded to the victim when the diocese learned of the allegation and also informed the Sensitive Issues Committee.

BY WANDA J. DeMARZO
wdemarzo@MiamiHerald.com
The career of the Rev. Neil Doherty
As early as the mid-1970s, the Archdiocese of Miami was aware of allegations that the Rev. Neil Doherty had been having inappropriate relationships with young boys, the priest's longtime secretary told prosecutors investigating sexual molestation charges against him.

The secretary's statement, released Friday among documents that are part of the criminal case against the priest, represents the first time that someone within the archdiocese has confirmed what victims have alleged for years: that church leaders knew about the allegations.

In fact, the documents reveal that in 1992, Doherty -- then priest at St. Vincent's in Margate -- was sent by the archdiocese to Connecticut for psychological testing.

The results indicated Doherty should be removed as a parish priest ''because he is dangerous, manipulative, a pathological liar and he is someone that will stop at nothing to get what he wants,'' the secretary told prosecutors.

Yet he continued to minister at the parish until he was removed in April of 2002. Theresa Gerstner, his longtime secretary, would later tell prosecutors that the archdiocese knew about Doherty's alleged penchant for young boys.

July 21, 2006

Santa Rosa Bishop Daniel Walsh four years ago suspended a priest suspected of abusing a boy decades earlier but kept the information secret from North Coast parishioners.

In a statement issued Thursday, the diocese confirmed Walsh suspended Donald Eagleson, ordained as a priest in Napa in 1985, after learning of abuse allegations. But Walsh did not inform local Roman Catholics of the alleged abuse when he learned of it in 2002 nor of the identity of the priest when a partial settlement was reached in the case in 2005.

Eagleson died of leukemia in 2004.

Walsh, who consistently has refused to answer questions about abuse by the clergy, was in his office Thursday after returning from vacation. He did not respond to requests for interviews about the statement, which was released after media inquiries about the case.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.— A Superior Court judge has for now blocked more than 100 people who say they were molested by priests from having to tell lawyers about the abuse they say they endured.

Judge John Agostini ruled Thursday that the alleged victims won't have to be deposed in an ongoing legal fight between the Springfield Diocese and its eight insurance carriers until all other depositions in the case are completed.

Once those depositions are done, Agostini said, "we will be in a better position to assess" whether the alleged victims need to be interviewed at all.

The move to depose the alleged victims threatened to stall settlements between the diocese and three dozen adults who say they were abused by priests as children.

Friday, July 21, 2006
BY JEFF DIAMANT
Star-Ledger Staff
An estimated 300 people, most of them victims of clergy sex abuse, will come to Jersey City for a conference starting tonight for the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, a national group known by its nickname SNAP.

Speakers at the weekend conference include authors Jason Berry, Richard Sipe and the Rev. Thomas Doyle, who have written about the clergy sex scandal, and the Most Rev. Thomas Gumbleton, a retired auxiliary bishop in Detroit who last year announced he had been molested as a seminarian.

The conference begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 2 Exchange Place. Sessions also will be held there from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. tomorrow and from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday.

SNAP gained national attention in 2002 after revelations that many Catholic bishops around the country had protected priests who had molested minors.

A disgraced US Rabi has dropped a legal challenge against bloggers who published details of his alleged sexual misconduct.

Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, former leader of Kehillat New Hempstead in New Hempstead, New York, had filed petitions in an effort to force blog host Google to disclose the identities of those behind blogs Jewish whistleblower, rabbinic integrity, Jewish survivors and New Hempstead news.

He initially claimed the bloggers had defamed him and filed petitions both in Ohio and California, but has since dropped the Ohio petition.

The Seattle Repertory Theatre's local premiere of John Patrick Shanley's Tony Award-honored play "Doubt" will be directed by Warner Shook, according to the company. Shook is the former artistic head of Seattle's Intiman Theatre.

The Rep announced that "Doubt" will include Kandis Chappell, as a nun who suspects a priest of sexually abusing a child, and Cynthia Jones as the child's mother.

A former Maui deacon was sentenced in one of the biggest cases of sexual abuse in Hawaii's catholic church.

The former clergyman will spend time in prison, then house arrest, followed by a lengthy probation. the prosecuting attorney said other children should not be afraid to come forward if they're victims of similar crimes.

69-year-old James Gonsalves will spend the next year behind bars, following his guilty plea on 62 counts of sex assault involving a boy.

"Not only the life of this child, the family has suffered, the community has suffered, the people of the church have suffered -- all because of your actions, this whole web of trust has been shattered," says Maui County Judge Rhonda Loo.

A former deacon with the Catholic Church on Maui was sentenced to one year in prison Thursday for sexually assaulting a boy repeatedly over a three-year period.

The prosecution admits it would have liked James "Ron" Gonsalves to spend more time behind bars, but told KGMB9 the lighter sentence was the best thing for the victim.

Gonsalves was charged with 30 counts of first-degree sexual assault, 30 counts of third-degree sexual assault, and two counts of attempted sexual assault. Had Gonsalves been tried and convicted, he could have spent the rest of his life in prison. Instead he pleaded guilty and entered into a plea agreement with the prosecution.

WAILUKU, Maui — Catholic deacon James "Ron" Gonsalves was sentenced yesterday to a year in jail and 20 years of probation on 62 counts of sexually assaulting a boy over the course of three years.

Acting 2nd Circuit Judge Rhonda Loo agreed to punish Gonsalves, 69, under a special "expedited sentencing program" available in cases of "intrafamily" sexual assault if the offender admits guilt and cooperates with authorities. Gonsalves is distantly related to the victim, who was 12 when the crimes began in 2002.

The assaults occurred at Gonsalves' home and at St. Ann Church in Waihe'e, where he had been serving as administrator since 1999, and continued until June 2005.

By AMY SHERMAN
asherman@MiamiHerald.com
The Archdiocese of Miami has agreed to settle six separate sexual abuse cases, including two involving Neil Doherty, a Broward priest accused of drugging and raping boys in incidents dating back to 1973.

The civil suits were settled in the past few weeks for $750,000, according to Jeffrey Herman, the lawyer representing the victims.

''For those victims, they decided that they wanted to get some closure and put the cases behind them,'' Herman said.

The cases include alleged sexual abuse that occurred in Broward and Miami-Dade counties mostly in the 1970s and 1980s.

Friday, July 21, 2006
By MARLA A. GOLDBERG
mgoldberg@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD - The murder case of Frankie A. Roche, 33, who is accused of shooting a reputed organized crime figure, Adolfo M. Bruno, 57, in 2003 in Springfield, has been assigned to a judge sitting in Worcester.

Chief Justice of the Superior Courts Barbara J. Rouse assigned Judge Francis R. Fecteau on July 3 to preside at Roche's trial and all prior proceedings, according to court documents.

Fecteau normally sits in Worcester County Superior Court, and on July 6, Regional Administrative Justice Constance M. Sweeney ordered Roche's case transferred there, an order to remain in force unless amended by Rouse or Fecteau. ...

In 2002, Fecteau, a parishoner in the Worcester Catholic Diocese, drew ire from victims of sexual abuse by clergy, when he released a priest charged with child rape on personal recognizance, according to Worcester Telegram & Gazette archives.

In October 2003, the priest, the Rev. Robert E. Kelley, was sentenced to state prison, and Fecteau withdrew from a civil case against him.

Last month, Fecteau, who was specially assigned to a Berkshire County case, granted a new trial to Bernard F. Baran Jr., 41, who began serving life in prison in 1985 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting children at a Pittsfield day-care center. Baran's lawyers argued that he was convicted on unreliable evidence, but Assistant District Attorney David F. Capeless has said he will appeal Fecteau's ruling.

A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland cannot be forced to liquidate a $36 million trust fund to pay any claims resulting from sexual abuse lawsuits against priests.

The decision Thursday by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth Perris was considered a victory for the archdiocese, which two years ago became the first Catholic diocese in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection from priest abuse lawsuits.

Dioceses in Spokane, Wash., and Tucson, Ariz., followed with bankruptcy filings of their own.

Late last year, Perris ruled that a test group of nine Catholic churches and one school could be sold, a major victory for those who claim to be victims of priest sex abuse.

The archdiocese appealed, and a federal judge is expected to review the ruling in the fall.

By Mary Adamski and Gary T. Kubota
madamski@starbulletin.com | gkubota@starbulletin.com
WAILUKU » During the period he was repeatedly molesting a teenage boy, former Catholic deacon James Ronald Gonsalves attended training about keeping children safe from sexual abuse.

Gonsalves was sentenced yesterday to one year in prison and 20 years' probation for 62 acts of sexual assault between June 2002 and June 2005. Gonsalves, 69, earlier pleaded guilty to the assaults that occurred while he was administrator of St. Ann Church in Waihee, Maui.

Catholic diocesan spokesman Patrick Downes said Gonsalves attended the Safe Environment training program, which was launched in 2003 in response to the nationwide scandal as dozens of Catholic priests were accused of sexually assaulting minors.

"Everyone who works with children in the diocese, professional or volunteer, priest, nun or lay person, is required to take it," Downes said. Professional family counselors at Catholic Charities present the one-day training course annually to people who work in parishes, schools and other organizations. He said the course includes training on setting boundaries in relationships with other people and teaches how to recognize behavior that signals sexual abuse.

July 20, 2006

A man awarded €300,000 for sexual abuse he suffered as a child, at the hands of a schoolmaster, is unlikely ever to recover any damages.

In fact, he may face legal bills as the State has indicated it will pursue him for its legal costs in the case.

The 46-year-old man was abused over four years by John Hannon, a former Franciscan brother who was principal of St Colman’sAbuse Tracker School in Cummer, Tuam, Co Galway. The abuse began in the early 1970s when the victim was nine years old.

On Tuesday, the High Court decided that neither the State nor the Franciscan order had any liability for the damage caused to the man. The award was made against Hannon who, having spent eight years in jail for similar offences, is unlikely to be able to pay his victim.

Lionsgate, a studio known as one of the leading distributors of independent films, recently acquired domestic rights to Deliver Us from Evil—a documentary about a pedophiliac Catholic priest.

According to a press release, the film—directed by Emmy-winning writer and director Amy Berg—has received critical acclaim and prestigious awards on the film festival circuit. Berg's documentary traces the life of Father Oliver O'Grady, a pedophiliac priest whose crimes—including serial rape—were concealed for decades by the church. According to Berg's film, the church knew about O'Grady's crimes all along, but simply passed him along from one region to the next to keep him from being discovered.

The Church Dayton Diamond Ridge has been in the news because of the alleged involvement of one of its deacons in the sexual assault upon a teenager. The deacon and three teenage boys have in fact been arrested and charged with aiding and abetting the assault on the schoolgirl.

The public has been understandably outraged by this incident. It is not only the attempted rape of the schoolgirl that is at issue. What concerns the public is what appears to be the attempt by the church authorities to cover up the incident and the subsequent castigation of the Press and alleged "leakers" by one of the elders of the church. The public rightly holds the church to a high standard and felt betrayed that the church should have responded as it did.

An official response has now come from the church. The suggestion in the media is that the church has apologised for the incident, but even a cursory reading of the statement would indicate that the statement does not fit the status of an apology. The defence of the elder was very selective. There were other things that were said by her besides what was quoted in the statement. To believe that the leaking of the incident was a betrayal of the church and that unbelievers cannot be called upon to deal with God's people are beyond the pale.

The Rev. Richard Manning's wife already had forgiven him for having an affair with a woman from his church.

Manning's redemption became complete Tuesday after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court jury acquitted the former pastor of all charges that he raped the congregant several times over a three-month period last year.

After retired Judge James D. Sweeney read the 12 not guilty verdicts, Manning, 48, turned to his lawyer, Susan Moran, with a look of disbelief and asked, "Is it over?"

Told he was free to leave, Manning ran into the arms of his wife, Shelley. They embraced and cried profuse tears of joy.

"We just prayed that the truth would come out, and it did," Manning said.

CLEVELAND | A jury acquitted a Baptist pastor of charges he raped a Thai immigrant and threatened to have her deported if she reported the alleged crime.

Richard Manning, 48, of suburban Parma Heights, and his wife hugged and cried following the verdict Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

"We just prayed that the truth would come out, and it did," Manning said.

Manning was charged with rape, kidnapping, gross sexual imposition and intimidation in December after the woman, in her 40s, told police he had raped her several times. Police said he coerced her into having sex by making her believe he could have her deported if she refused.

THE CHURCH Dayton Diamond Ridge has been operating without the necessary permit and is soon to receive notice from the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC).

According to a press release issued by the KSAC yesterday, Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie said a report from the Corporation's Building and Town Department confirmed that the church is operating in breach of regulations.

OPERATING ILLEGALLY

Mr. McKenzie had promised Tuesday to launch an investigation into whether the church, once a residential dwelling, is operating illegally.

ALBANY -- Temple Israel fired its longtime cantor for "inappropriate behavior" toward a member of the congregation, and the Albany County district attorney's office confirmed Tuesday that it is investigating the matter.

The Albany temple's board of trustees voted unanimously to terminate Cantor Philip Friedman on May 31, Temple Israel President Gavin Setzen said in a prepared statement responding to questions from the Times Union. Synagogue trustees reported the episode to law enforcement officials on the advice of counsel, he said.

Setzen declined to provide details about Friedman's inappropriate behavior, citing an ongoing investigation by the district attorney's office.

Friedman, 65, became cantor of Temple Israel in 1992. The 57-year-old temple on New Scotland Avenue is Albany's largest Conservative synagogue. Friedman served congregations in Queens and Long Island before he moved to Albany.

The excitement being generated around the case of the alleged sex deacon from the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge is entirely understandable.

It has all the ingredients that make for good copy: it is sensational; it is a perfect example of the man bites dog thing that drives media; it is ironic because it originates from quarters least expected - the church; it involves one who should be above reproach - a deacon; and it involves this perrenial three-letter word that always makes for stimulating discussion - sex.

But beyond all that, there is the serious issue of the image of the church in Jamaica and the beating that it is now taking as a result of the allegations which, and rightly so, are currently being tested in a court of law.

In the midst of the hullabaloo, we must be careful not to lose sight of the critical role that the church in general has played and continues to play in bolstering this still fledgling nation. Nobody who reads the slightest history can escape the fact that without the church, there would hardly be much to this Jamaica land we love.

BURLINGTON — The lawyer for 21 people suing Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese for alleged sexual abuse by priests is accusing the diocese of withholding large numbers of documents it is legally required to produce.

"The diocese is withholding 27 years of documents," lawyer Jerome O'Neill wrote in a request that the Chittenden Superior Court impose sanctions on the church.

He said the diocese and its lawyer, William O'Brien, "either purposely hid large numbers of documents ... or completely breached their duty of diligence."

O'Brien said the diocese has not withheld the records, saying "The diocese has produced an unprecedented amount of material, literally thousands of pages of diocesan documents, and we are confident that this motion will be denied."

Those saying they were sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests will have to wait a bit longer for their day in court after a Superior Court judge yesterday postponed trials of lawsuits against the Diocese of San Diego.

Judge John S. Einhorn granted a request by attorneys representing Bishop Robert Brom and various local parishes to delay the trial date from November to mid-January 2007.

The defendants' argument that they did not have enough time to conduct depositions and discovery, and otherwise prepare for trial, between now and November had merit, Einhorn ruled.

The five cases released for trial are among 155 lawsuits alleging sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests at churches in San Diego, Imperial and San Bernardino counties. The incidents date back decades.

Most of the cases were filed three years ago and have languished in mediation after being combined with about 450 similar suits against the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

MIAMI -- Fourteen lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy at two Florida dioceses and a former Tampa boarding school have been settled for more than $1.6 million, an attorney who represented all the plaintiffs said Wednesday.

Two lawsuits alleging sexual abuse by a Diocese of Orlando priest in the 1970s were settled for a total of $250,000, Miami attorney Jeffrey Herman said.

Diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati declined to release additional details about the settlement, but said it was reached more than a month ago and the total was less than $250,000.

WHEN SOME of Philadelphia's alleged victims of pedophile priests couldn't get justice in the courts of criminal law, they turned to the courts of civil law.

But apparently, they may be disappointed there as well.

As Daily News staff writer Michael Hinkelman reported yesterday, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has asked a federal judge to dismiss a class-action lawsuit filed by 12 people who say they were sexually abused by area priests.

Named in the suit are Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua and the late Cardinal John Krol. They stand accused in the suit of engaging in a conspiracy to cover up the abuses.

The charges are essentially similar to those leveled at the archdiocese last year by a grand jury appointed by District Attorney Lynne Abraham. In that report, some 60 priests were named as likely abusers of children, and the grand jury charged the archdiocese with essentially setting up a scheme to avoid prosecution.

The Archdiocese of Miami has agreed to settle six separate sexual abuse cases accusing a number of its former clergy members, including a former Broward County priest, attorneys said Tuesday.

The church agreed to pay out a combined $750,000 to the unidentified victims in the six cases, said Miami-based attorney Jeffery Herman.

It is unclear the total number of victims who were involved in the lawsuits.

Among those accused in the lawsuits was Neil Doherty, a former priest at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate, who was arrested in January on eight counts of sexual battery, lewd and lascivious acts and molestation.

Two lawsuits alleging sex abuse in the 1970s by an Orlando Catholic priest have been settled, an attorney said Wednesday.

The cases were among 14 in Florida that were settled, said Miami attorney Jeffrey Herman, who represented all the plaintiffs.

Herman said the cases against the Diocese of Orlando were settled for $250,000.

Diocese spokeswoman Carol Brinati would not release additional details about the settlement but said it was reached more than a month ago and the total was less than $250,000.

Both lawsuits claimed the diocese knew about allegations of sexual abuse by Vernon Uhran as early as 1969, yet no disciplinary action was taken and he was allowed to continue working in Central Florida churches.

July 19, 2006

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- The lawyer for 21 people suing Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese for alleged sexual abuse by priests is accusing the diocese of withholding large numbers of documents it is legally required to produce.

"The diocese is withholding 27 years of documents," lawyer Jerome O'Neill wrote in a request that the Chittenden Superior Court impose sanctions on the church.

He said the diocese and its lawyer, William O'Brien, "either purposely hid large numbers of documents ... or completely breached their duty of diligence."

ELKHORN-A priest convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting two boys in the late 1960s was ordered Tuesday to serve 20 years probation, and he'll go to prison if he loses an appeal.

Judge James Carlson hung a seven-year prison sentence over the head of the Rev. Donald McGuire.

The 75-year-old retired Jesuit priest, who was once the spiritual advisor to Mother Theresa's order of nuns, still maintains he is not guilty.

"In spite of my absolute silence during the trial, when so many terrible things were said about me, you can very well think I'm guilty because I chose to say nothing in my defense," McGuire told Carlson. "But your honor, you are looking at an innocent man."

Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio - A woman who filed a lawsuit accusing a Roman Catholic priest - already convicted of killing a nun - of taking part in ritual abuse ceremonies said the suit should not be dismissed because the alleged abuse began nearly 40 years ago.

A motion filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court said the time period for when she could file the lawsuit did not begin until she knew her abuser's identity.

The woman, who was not identified, said she did not know the Rev. Gerald Robinson's name until she saw him on television in 2004 after he was charged in the 1980 killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

Robinson, 68, was found guilty on May 11 of choking and stabbing Sister Pahl and sentenced to a mandatory term of 15 years to life in prison.

July 19, 2006 - A jury awarded $600,000 to a Martinez man sexually abused by a priest when he was a high school student more than three decades ago.

"I've finally been vindicated," said Joey Piscitelli, 50, a former altar boy. "The church has denied and tried to disgrace me and my family for 35 years. They've devastated me and my family, and they've never apologized."

The Contra Costa County jury on Thursday found the Salesian order of priests and the Rev. Stephen Whelan equally responsible for the abuse, which occurred between 1969 and 1971 while Piscitelli was a student at Salesian High School in Richmond. Whelan was vice principal.

ELKHORN, Wis. - A retired Catholic priest from Illinois, accused of molesting two boys on retreats in southern Wisconsin in the late 1960s, was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison.

The Rev. Donald McGuire, 76, was convicted Feb. 23 of molesting the two men when they were high school students in 1967 and 1968. A jury found him guilty on five counts of indecent behavior with a child.

McGuire, a member of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus, taught at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Ill., from 1966 to 1970, and both of his accusers were students at the Jesuit-run school during that period.

The two said McGuire molested them on the Loyola campus, as well as at a house in Fontana during retreats to the Lake Geneva resort area.

A Toledo woman who sued Gerald Robinson in April, 2005, accusing the Roman Catholic priest of torturing and raping her in satanic rituals when she was a child, has filed a motion claiming the statute of limitations did not start ticking until she knew her abuser's identity.

The motion filed Monday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court said the unidentified victim did not know Robinson's name until she saw him on television after his April 23, 2004, arrest for the 1980 ritual killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

"I recognized him the minute I [saw] him on TV," the plaintiff said yesterday in a telephone interview with The Blade.

Robinson, 68, was convicted of murder on May 11 in Common Pleas Court and is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence in the Warren Correctional Facility in southern Ohio. He is believed to be the first U.S. Roman Catholic priest convicted of murdering a Roman Catholic nun.

A senior lecturer and Sunday school teacher who has spent more than 30 years telling people about God's love said yesterday that she felt "hurt" that the deacon at the Dayton Avenue Church of God had failed to prevent the alleged sexual assault of a thirteen-year old school girl by three teenage boys.

"This ought not to be found amongst those who worship God, and neither should the response given by the church be amongst those who know God," said Karen Morgan.

Morgan, a senior lecturer at the Mico University College in Kingston, was addressing Sabbath and Sunday School teachers at a luncheon hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Kingston in their honour.

Deacon Donovan Jones and the three boys were last Tuesday charged with the sexual assault of the girl, which reportedly took place in the back of a van in April. The church later defended the deacon, and criticised the member who went to the press with the story.

"The church must never compromise with sin," Morgan said to loud applause yesterday.

It is fairly safe to say that abusive teachers are few and far between, but there were far more of them 40 years ago, and they were permitted to do things to students that are forbidden today. In fact, many former students bear emotional and physical scars from treatment at the hands of their teachers.

We've all heard about the horrors First Nations children endured in residential schools. "White" children endured exactly the same sort of abuse in orphanages throughout North America and Europe. Children bereft of protection by adult family members who valued and loved them were virtually helpless when raised by strangers who did not respect them.

A friend of mine who was raised by Irish "Brothers" in a Dublin Protestant orphanage in the 1920s and '30s suffered every sort of physical, sexual and emotional abuse you can imagine, and other types of abuses you can't imagine. I know First Nations people who were subjected to overwhelming abuse as children in residential schools. The effects of abuse may be overcome to some extent, but they never go away completely. Damage is permanent.

The United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands is calling on the leadership of local churches to revise measures which are in place to prevent the abuse of children.

The announcement comes in the wake of the public outcry over the alleged assault of a schoolgirl in the presence of a church Deacon and the subsequent failure of the church to report the matter to the police.

In a release, the United Church said all churches should ensure that their leadership is aware of the provisions of the Child Care and Protection Act.

The church is also encouraging the leadership of local denominations to access ongoing training in pastoral care.

It is also saying that churches should clarify procedures for the reporting and investigation of cases of alleged abuse.

Posted Tuesday, Jul. 18, 2006
When Kelly Fischer drove by in his white pick-up with his teenage step-daughter seated between him and his legal wife, his neighbor Isaac Wyler knew something was up. Sure enough, the next time Wyler saw the girl, who was about 15 or 16 years old, she was pregnant. Wyler, an ex-member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints (FLDS), was no stranger to the signs of polygamy. His suspicions proved true: Fischer had "spiritually" married his own step-daughter in a secret ceremony, a practice common among polygamists in the FLDS community in Colorado City, Ariz.

Testimony from Wyler and another former FLDS member, Richard Holm, coupled with birth certificates, swayed a Mohave County jury on July 7 to find Fischer guilty of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Wyler and Holm testified in court on how polygamous marriages work and gave eyewitness accounts of Fischer and the girl's "flirtations behavior." But the verdict was unusual — and, to critics of the alleged abuses in polygamous marriages, especially significant — in that it came without the testimony of the alleged victims. In the FLDS community that populates the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., finding victims willing to speak out is rare. "The nature of this community is opposed to the crimes themselves," explains Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. "Victims have been taught from the cradle up not to cooperate with the outside or to disagree with their leaders."

THE Dayton Avenue Church of God, which has come under fire recently for condoning the actions of one of its deacons who failed to put a stop to the sexual assault of a 13-year-old schoolgirl in his presence, could soon be forced to close its doors.

The Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) said yesterday that the church had contravened the Building and Town Planning Regulations and, as such, was operating illegally. "Outside of the act of sexual abuse - which is illegal - we are also finding out that the church is operating illegally, because this so-called 'House of God' was converted from a private home into a church," said Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie.

He was speaking yesterday at the graduation exercise for the Early Stimulation Programme, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston.
McKenzie later told the Observer that checks carried out by the KSAC had revealed that "no application was ever made to the KSAC" for a retention of the use of the property to operate a church.

"We will be moving to take action within a week as soon as the paperwork is completed," he said.

THE CHURCH Dayton Diamond Ridge, the affiliate worship centre of former deacon, Donovan Jones, who has been implicated in the sexual molestation of a 13-year-old girl, will come under the microscope again.

The Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) will be launching an investigation into allegations that the facility is operating illegally.

According to Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie, the church was converted from a private home to its present state.

"It is now the responsibility of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation to do the necessary investigations, and once this is found to be illegal then the council will have no option but to take the necessary steps to ensure that there is compliance," the mayor argued. "We cannot legitimise wrongdoing in the city."

JUSTICE MINISTER and Attorney-General, Senator A.J. Nicholson, has given instruction for the drafting of child pornography legislation.

According to Canute Brown, director of justice reform in the Ministry of Justice, he has been mandated to oversee the drafting of the law.

"The minister gave me the directive last week to come up with such submission," Mr. Brown told The Gleaner yesterday. "The law will deal specifically with the making, distribution and sale of child pornography."

KAREN MORGAN, an elder at Macedonia Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kingston, has urged the Church not to cover up violations when they occur because such action will inevitably drive people away from the institution.

"We must not powder-puff things, we push people farther from the Church when we do that," Mrs. Morgan said yesterday while speaking during the Kiwanis Club of Kingston's weekly luncheon at the Hilton Kingston hotel in New Kingston.

She continued: "Let us not try to protect the Church, God is in charge of his Church."

The elder told the gathering that, while the Church should feel hurt and sympathy for those persons who besmirch the institution's reputation, members should not feel defeated.

By MICHAEL HINKELMAN
hinkelm@phillynews.com 215-854-2656
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has asked a federal judge to throw out a class-action lawsuit filed last month by 12 people who allege that the church's coverup of abuse by Catholic priests violated federal racketeering and conspiracy laws.

The plaintiffs, who said they had been abused by various priests from 1956 to 1985, also claim their civil rights were violated. They're seeking unspecified damages.

The lawsuit names as defendants the archdiocese, Cardinals Justin Rigali and Anthony Bevilacqua, and the estate of Cardinal John Krol, contending they engaged in a "massive conspiracy to cover up and effectively perpetuate" the abuse.

But the archdiocese's response, filed late Monday, said the lawsuit "cannot withstand even simple scrutiny," and cites 65 federal and state court rulings in support of its motion to dismiss.

FALL RIVER - Complaining that a bill designed to aid victims of childhood sexual assault isn't far-reaching enough, members of several local Catholic lay groups have taken their message to the streets, condemning the Massachusetts Catholic Conference for its stance on the bill, which would extend the statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse cases.

Parishioners from Voice of the Faithful, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests and Speak Truth to Power participated in leafletting outside area churches Sunday. Members handed out leaflets at St. Mary's Cathedral in Fall River, Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston and St. Paul's Cathedral in Worcester.

"The bill (House 5131) only extends the statute of limitations on criminal action," said Estelle Roach, of Fall River, who attended the leafletting at St. Mary's. "It does nothing on civil actions, which are the only means by which most people can seek justice."

The proposal would increase the statute of limitations on criminal childhood sexual assault cases to 25 years past the victim's 16th birthday. Action on civil cases would remain limited to three years.

Individual parishioners aren't named as defendants in 10 lawsuits winding their way through California courts involving allegations of clergy abuse by two priests who once worked in the Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese.

In a very practical sense, however, every one of the area's 700,000 Catholics might as well be named in the suits. That's because it's difficult to separate the institution from its parishioners. That's the nature of churches.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan made the point recently, girding parishioners for the possibility of "staggering financial consequences" in the event of judgments against the archdiocese.

In a perfect world, parishioners would be held harmless. There would be no trickle-down effect from declaring bankruptcy, no closing of parishes or selling of church assets. Alas, it's not a perfect world. If it were, priests would not have molested children and church leaders would not have kept them in the priesthood after they did so.

A 72-year-old former Allentown Catholic Diocese priest previously convicted of molesting a boy in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty Monday to charges he tried to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy after meeting him in an Internet chat room, prosecutors said.

Thomas J. Bender of Lower Macungie Township was involved in sexy Internet discussions in March with a Nassau County detective who was posing as the 14-year-old boy and then tried to meet him, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.

''The threat against our children is no longer confined to the playgrounds and the parks,'' Rice said in a news release. ''It now includes the message boards and the chat rooms that exist within our homes.''

Bender was arrested March 21 when he tried to meet the boy with the intention of taking him to a motel for sex, prosecutors said. He was carrying condoms, beer, pornography, a digital camera, candy, gum, toothpaste, personal lubricant and a laptop, police said.

ELKHORN, Wis. -- A Chicago Jesuit priest convicted in February of molesting two Loyola Academy students in Wisconsin in the 1960s was sentenced Tuesday to 7 years in prison and 20 years of probation.

But Rev. Donald McGuire's prison sentence was postponed until he finishes appealing the verdict. The probation begins immediately.

Walworth County, Wis., Judge James Carlson also ordered McGuire, 76, to register as a sex offender, stay confined to his Jesuit home in Waukegan and have no contact with minors or the two men he was convicted of molesting.

McGuire did not show any emotion at the sentencing and declined to comment after the hearing, but he spoke in court about his innocence, his dedication to the priesthood and his twice-daily examination of the truth of his life.

By CHRIS METINKO
The Contra Costa Times
MARTINEZ, Calif. - A Contra Costa County jury on Tuesday awarded $600,000 to a Martinez man sexually abused by a priest while he was a student at Salesian High School in Richmond, Calif.

The jury, by a 9-to-3 margin, found in favor of Joey Piscitelli, a former altar boy who was abused by the Rev. Stephen Whelan, a vice principal, when he was a freshman and sophomore at the high school from 1969 to 1971.

"I've finally been vindicated," said Piscitelli, 50. "The church has denied and tried to disgrace me and my family for 35 years. They've devastated me and my family, and they've never apologized."

The jury found the Salesian order and Whelan equally responsible for the abuse. The judgment means the Salesian Society is responsible for paying $300,000. However, because Whelan was not named as a defendant, he is not responsible for the other half.

The human rights group, Jamaicans For Justice (JFJ), is calling on former high court judge Martin Wright to immediately resign as a member of the Judicial Services Commission.

The former high court judge is a Pastor at the Dayton Diamond Ridge Church and is alleged to have known of the allegations of the sexual assault of a teenaged girl without reporting the matter to the police.

Executive Director of JFJ, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, says this has brought the Commission into disrepute.

The church made the headlines recently when reports emerged that one of its deacons watched while a 13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by teenaged boys.

The deacon, Donovan Jones, and three boys now face criminal charges as a result of the incident.

MINEOLA, Long Island (1010 WINS) -- A 72-year-old former priest, who had been convicted of molesting a teenager, pleaded guilty today to charges he tried to have sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old boy.

UPLAND - A former priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Church was removed from his current position at a Bay Area church following news reports that he had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl in Upland more than 30 years ago.

The Rev. John Bennison, an assistant priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Church from 1971 to 1975, resigned under pressure as pastor of St. John's Episcopal Church in Clayton.

Allegations against the former St. Mark's pastor first were revealed by church officials to parishioners in 1993, St. Mark's Senior Warden Serena Beeks said Monday.

The four-year relationship with the girl was detailed in an Oct. 8, 1993, letter from Frederick Borsch, bishop of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Los Angeles, to St. Mark's parishioners.

This is an absolutely dreadful time for this society.
Just when I had the conviction that we had seen every stage of insanity and barbarity in this country, there arrives the sexual abuse against a 13 year-old child, earlier this year, the perpetrators reportedly video taping the act.

In any event, it would be unfair to judge all the members of the church involved. But it's a simple case of false prophets and so called "men of God". The Bible says " suffer the little children to come unto me". I am, however, very sure the word was not synonymous to abusing the vulnerable.

Donovan James, or 'Uncle Jimmy' as he is referred to by those on the tape. Even more so the tone of these youngsters seems to suggest that they trusted him- the man who has for years been a deacon at the Dayton Avenue Church of God.

James, 47, was held in connection with the incident along with three other males, including an 18 year-old and a 14 year old boy. The men have been in custody for some time. They were, however, formally charged a few days ago.

MANY PERSONS have been surprised that there could be allegations against a deacon of a church concerning sexual assault on a minor for commercial purposes and subsequent attempts to conceal it from the law courts.

There was an underlying feeling that certain things should not happen in the church. However, the church has always been made up of persons who are sinners. Christians are not under the dominion of sin but commit sins and when we sin we have an advocate in Jesus. The non-believer, however, is under the direction of sin and that person does not have the privilege of Jesus as the advocate to plead his or her case but instead wallows in guilt or becomes insensitive to sin and presumptuous in sinning.

The Bible has examples of sinning sexually. There is the story in Corinthians 5 of a male having sexual relations with his father's wife and the church was proud of it. Things were so bad that Paul said sexual immorality was worse in the church than among the Gentiles. In the Old Testament Abraham had a child with his wife's domestic helper. David committed adultery with Uriah's wife and then conspired to have Uriah killed in order to conceal his crime.

WORCESTER— Sime M. Braio loved to cook sausages, meatballs and other Italian dishes and, if circumstances had been different, he might have been a chef or manager at a restaurant on Shrewsbury Street, instead of finding himself at the heart of the local clergy sexual abuse scandal.

But, according to family members, Mr. Braio was shuttled at an early age from foster home to foster home until his behavioral problems grew to the point where he was committed to the former state Lyman School for Boys in Westboro.

Mr. Braio, who roiled the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester in 2002 with charges that he had been sexually abused by Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, was buried yesterday afternoon at Hope Cemetery after a funeral Mass at St. John’s Church on Temple Street.

“What we celebrate today (Monday) is that Sime is now in the loving arms of God,” said the Rev. John F. Madden, St. John’s pastor. “He finally has eternal peace.”

A handful of mourners attended Mr. Braio’s services.

There was no mention, either at the church or at graveside, of the controversy brought about by Mr. Braio’s allegations of abuse.

July 18, 2006
By LYNNE TUOHY, Courant Staff Writer The state Supreme Court for the first time has resolved a conflict between the General Assembly's 1972 decision to roll back the age of majority from 21 to 18 and its expansion of the time period in which a child victim of sexual assault may sue for damages as an adult.

The decision clears the way for a lawsuit to continue against the Norwich Diocese over allegations that a priest sexually assaulted a boy more than 40 years ago.

"David Doe," now 53, says he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Norwich Catholic priest Bernard Bissonnette when he was 9 and 10 years old.

Doe was 19 in 1972 when the age of majority was lowered from 21 to 18. When he sued the Norwich Roman Catholic Diocesan Corporation in September 2002, at age 49, the diocese took the stance that his lawsuit was invalid because it should have been filed no later than when Doe reached the age of 48, 30 years after Doe attained majority, the corporation argued. The legislature in 2002 expanded the statute of limitations for filing child sex abuse claims from 17 to 30 years.

July 17, 2006

4:57 PM EDT, July 17, 2006
Associated Press HARTFORD, Conn. -- The state Supreme Court cleared the way today for a lawsuit against the Norwich Diocese over allegations that a priest sexually assaulted a boy more than 40 years ago.

The court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit was filed within Connecticut's statute of limitations and can go forward.

A man identified in Supreme Court papers as David Doe claims that he was sexually assaulted when he was 9 and 10 in 1962 and 1963 by the Rev. Bernard Bissonnette.

He sued in 2002, at age 49, for physical and emotional injuries he claims to have sustained.

AN ENGLISH vicar was forced to resign from his position as a school governor last week after kissing a primary school pupil on the cheek. The Reverend Alan Barrett, vicar of Tamworth, kissed the 10-year-old girl in front of other staff and pupils as he presented her with a maths certificate.

The police, social services and the diocese all conducted investigations into claims by the girl's mother that the kiss constituted assault, and although the police and social services found that Barrett had no case to answer, the church saw things differently.

A spokesman for the diocese said the church investigation found that "Mr Barrett had acted inappropriately". This was "not a finding of guilt or negligence, but recognition that in today's climate, previously acceptable innocent behaviour is now subject to misunderstanding and suspicion".

By Richard W. Garnett
In and around our nation's big cities, hundreds of Catholic parishes, schools and hospitals are consolidating and closing. Many of these institutions have long provided the foundation — as well as provided for the faith — of urban neighborhoods and immigrant communities.

In Manhattan's East Village, for example, St. Brigid's, which was closed in 2001, was built to be the spiritual home and social haven for refugees from the Irish potato famine more than 150 years ago. When plans to tear down the church were announced, preservationist groups sued Cardinal Edward Egan to block the demolition. Last month, an appeals court correctly dismissed the case.

At first glance, lawsuits like this are understandable. On reflection, though, we should see that such moves are misguided. Litigation comes easy to Americans, and we are used to righting perceived wrongs through the courts. However, because of our constitutional commitment to religious freedom, some hard decisions are just none of judges' business.

Stories about these closings and the emotional, often angry, reactions to them are becoming a newspaper staple. Last month, Saint Michael the Archangel, which has long served Polish-Americans in Boston, joined the more than 60 area parishes slated to be shut. As the Boston Globe reported, the final Mass was emotional and marked by prayer and protest. "This was a home away from home," said one young woman, an immigrant from Poland. In 2005, the last Catholic hospital in Brooklyn, St. Mary's, shut its doors after 123 years of service.

More recently, the Archdiocese of New York announced a dramatic reorganization plan that could result in the closing of more than 30 parishes and a dozen schools. In fact, more than 170 parochial schools nationwide were closed or consolidated during the past year, and more than 1,600 in the past two decades, according to theAbuse Tracker Catholic Educational Association.

Behind the trend

Why is this happening? Certainly demographic changes, the movement of Catholics to growing suburbs, and changing attitudes of Catholics — clergy and lay people alike — about the importance of Catholic education are part of the story. So are declining numbers of priests and religious sisters (although the number of Catholics in America continues to grow), development pressures and increasing costs, the financial challenges associated with the aftermath of the clergy-sex-abuse scandal, and old-fashioned mismanagement.

It has been a crescendo of grief. First, we heard about the abuse of a 13-year-old schoolgirl by teenage boys in a van driven by a church 'deacon' who appeared complicit with the crime. Then we got reports from the media that a lady elder was upset with the whistle-blowers, implying that a slap on the wrist by the church was all that the offenders needed.

Now we are hearing that the videotape which was turned in to the media by a youngster with a conscience, had been made over several weeks. The traumatised 13-year-old had not been subjected to one horrible event, but a series, from which a pornographic video was produced, entitled The Dayton Hour 'directed and produced' by said 'deacon'.

Sadly, this is one of many churches of various denominations worldwide that have been implicated in such scandals.

Entering John Marshall Lee's insurance office in Fairfield, visitors can't help but be overwhelmed by hundreds of turtle replicas filling every nook and cranny.
For Lee, the reptiles symbolize long life and infinite patience. The patience aspect comes in particularly handy in his new position as chairman of the Bridgeport Diocese chapter of Voice of the Faithful.

The group — dedicated to increasing lay participation in diocese operations after past sex scandals involving priests — has gotten the cold shoulder from Bishop William Lori.

Lee said he has written two letters to Lori requesting a meeting, but so far has received no response."I believe we should be open and respectful," Lee said. "We are members of local parish communities where many have been involved for decades. We are banned from meeting together in our own parish community buildings. "I believe the life I lead as a Catholic is to be welcoming and affirming," Lee said. Lee said the bishops in a majority of American parishes — including Cardinal Edward Egan of New York and Hartford Archbishop Henry J. Mansell — allow VOTF groups to meet on church property. "Bishop Lori says he is open to communicate with church members and we are church members," Lee said.

THERE IS a relatively new expression that describes any attempt to embellish or 'pretty up' the truth as 'sexing up' something. Of course, in Jamaica this does not translate very well into patois because we have an equivalent phrase which means quite the opposite. However, in the past week, a D-con and his colleagues have done both at the same time.

By now, everyone in this country, except perhaps the president of the North Trelawny Ministers' Fraternal, is familiar with the repugnant incident where several youths violated a teenage girl, with the full complicity of a 46-year-old "rusty back" deacon. All of Jamaica, with the possible exception of senior members of the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, are revolted by the occurrence. However, I am not surprised.

Given the historical evidence, it is naïve, if not downright hypocritical, to expect that persons would suddenly become more pious because they wear a pastoral collar. There have been far too many cases of sexual indiscretion in the Church since its early years for me to think that churchmen and women should be above scrutiny or have a monopoly on probity. Popes have fathered children, including their own nieces and nephews. This includes Alexander VI in the late 1400s and Rasputin, the famous Russian monk of the late 19th century, was a wanton lover of the Tsar's court and we know about Jimmy Swaggart. Even our beloved Reverend Jesse Jackson has been dragged through the sexual mud.

FALL RIVER — Voice of the Faithful members yesterday distributed flyers outside the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption — the spiritual center of the Fall River Diocese — as well as the Boston and Worcester dioceses to urge the repeal of criminal and civil statute of limitations for sex crimes against minors.
Twelve VOF members handed out pamphlets before the 10 a.m. Mass outside the downtown Fall River church, while 30 VOF members outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston, and about six VOF members outside St. Paul's Cathedral, Worcester, also distributed flyers.
A similar action was planned in Springfield, but Sharon Connors Grove of Sharon, vice president of the Boston Area Council of VOF, said yesterday it was cancelled at the last-minute.

PRIME MINISTER Portia Simpson Miller yesterday added her voice to the condemnation of the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl which was made public while she was off the island on official business.

She urged pastors and church-going persons to be diligent in observing the law as they balanced cases that demand confidentiality. The Prime Minister, who was speaking at the 81st AnnualAbuse Tracker Convention for the New Testament Church of God in Old Harbour told the gathering that she too is outraged at the news of the abuse.

"I am outraged as any well-thinking Jamaican about the ordeal of the 13-year-old while an official of the church observed. It shows that the arms of flesh have failed us and we need the change now."

Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, July 17, 2006
Court hearings are set to begin across Canada as a prelude to significant cash redress for natives who went through the Indian residential school system.

The federal government has allocated at least $2 billion to right the wrongs of yesteryear, when native children were forced to attend institutions away from their families.

This extraordinary process will see the courts weigh the fairness of the government's offer to former students and give those who disagree with the settlement or who would like to comment or otherwise present their case a chance to be heard.

The redress came about as a result of mounting lawsuits over the last two decades and growing federal legal bills.

The one-year anniversary of a shocking grand jury report on sexual abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia will soon come and go - without any legislative remedies from Harrisburg.

It's troubling that lawmakers were not moved to action by outrage stemming from the jury's Sept. 21, 2005, allegations that church leaders long shielded abusive clergy. (Church officials disputed the jury's account.)

"It's like back in school: No one was paying attention," said state Rep. Dennis M. O'Brien (R., Phila.), recalling the indifference that greeted several reform measures introduced in late 2005, and still languishing.

Yet the grand jury report (see: go.philly.com/priest) called for a reasoned, two-fold response to any abuse of children, not just by clergy: First, protect potential victims by enhancing abuse-reporting rules, mandating background checks, and extending statutes so victims can get justice even if, as is common, they do not come forward until years later. Second, provide a measure of justice to long-ago victims by opening up a one-time window for civil actions against abusers and those who may have protected them.

Monday, July 17, 2006
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
A national support group for clergy abuse victims wants the Roman Catholic Church to hold accountable bishops credibly accused of sexual abuse, such as former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupre.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests in mid-June invited the pope's representative to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, to meet with them when he was in Los Angeles for the U.S. bishops' conference.

Although Sambi didn't respond to the group's invitation, Barbara A. Blaine, president of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, hopes he will do so.

July 16, 2006

EVERYBODY, INCLUDING some who may well be sex perverts themselves, has condemned the action of the 46-year-old married deacon, Donovan Jones, who was allegedly complicit in the sexual escapade of some teenagers involving a 14-year-old girl.

We now have to move beyond that to some larger issues.

The grossly and repulsively immoral behaviour of the church deacon, clear for all to see in his X-rated movie of sexual exploitation, and the reaction of church founder Ruby Kelly, again highlight the need to understand how religious people think.

The secular media which don't have specialist religion reporters generally don't know how to cover religion. There are ace reporters and journalists who do excellently at covering politics, business, economics, entertainment, sports and foreign affairs, but are usually at sea when it comes to giving hard-nosed and nuanced coverage of matters involving religion, religious groups or philosophical issues.

By DOMINGO RAMIREZ JR.
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
Technology and abuse by clergy have helped lead to a longer statute of limitations for sex crimes against children in Texas, experts and attorneys say.

And the prosecution of such crimes as indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child may one day have no time limits, experts say.

“That seems to be the trend,” said Raymond Teske, a criminal-justice professor at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.

Most states have laws limiting the time during which crimes against children — other than murder — can be prosecuted. All states have time limits for suing suspects.

MESA - A Maricopa County Superior Court hearing is scheduled for Friday on whether a suspended Mesa priest should get a jury trial on six misdemeanor sex charges.

Judge Douglas Rayes will hear suspended Monsignor Dale Fushek's appeal of a ruling by San Tan Justice of the Peace Sam Goodman, who said Fushek should have a jury on only one of seven sex charges. advertisement

If Rayes rejects the appeal, Goodman would decide if Fushek is guilty or not guilty of five counts on contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of assault.

The Rev. Michael Jude Fay, who resigned as pastor from St. John Roman Catholic Church in May amid accusations he stole at least $200,000 from the parish, and wedding planner Cliff Martell appeared with other couples in the January-February issue of Philadelphia Style magazine -- dubbed the "sexiest issue ever" -- answering the question, "Where was your most romantic Philadelphia dining experience?"

Their response: "La Boheme because it's intimate with delicious food." Martell's arms are wrapped around Fay's shoulders in the photo, taken at a fundraiser for the Alliance for Philadelphia's Animals hosted by the magazine. Fay, who is not identified as a priest, is wearing a three-piece gray suit with a matching purple necktie and pocket square. Martell is wearing a black suit with French cuff sleeves and cufflinks.

Associated Press
APPLETON, Wis. - A priest who says he was forced to resign as pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville in 2004 is suing the Diocese of Green Bay.

In the suit, the Rev. John Zickert, a Capuchin Franciscan priest, alleges the diocese and Bishop David Zubik among 13 other defendants spread false allegations and rumors of financial mismanagement and sexual impropriety that led to his termination on Aug. 9, 2004.

Zickert says the allegations have kept him from gaining employment elsewhere as a parish priest.

"The bottom line is his grievances have gone unanswered by the powers that be and by the individuals involved, and therefore he felt compelled to take this action and clear his name and to address other issues involved," said William Grogan, the attorney representing Zickert. "It is a very complex situation with multiple sets of laws and rules that come into play."

THE delay in reporting the role of one of its deacons in the alleged sexual assualt of a teenaged girl notwithstanding, the police say reporting of sex offences by representatives of churches and schools is on the increase.

While not divulging figures, Inspector Dutress Foster-Gardner of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) told the Sunday Observer that pastors of churches and guidance counsellors in schools have been more forthcoming with information about sexual offences within their organisations.

"Reporting has improved since the passage of the new Child Care and Protection Act, which requires compulsory reporting of cases of child abuse," said Foster-Gardner.

The child care law passed in 2004 encourages the reporting of even the suspicion of abuse, and punishes failure to report actual cases by a fine of $500,000 or six months in prison.

Hearing the call to become a priest, Jeremy Rodrigues said, was like falling in love.

"You ever meet someone you love spending time with," he said, "like a woman you want to marry? Well, I'm here because I love Christ; I love the church, and the people of God."

Rodrigues said it was his love of the church that drew him into studying at Our Lady of Providence Seminary, and ultimately into his decision to become a Diocesan priest. It's a decision that fewer and fewer young American Catholic men are making, despite the nation's ever-growing number of people who identify themselves as Roman Catholics. ...

The sexual-abuse scandals that plagued the church during his formative years, according to Rodrigues, provided neither a deterrent nor an impetus for his decision to become a priest. He isn't trying to save the church, he said, nor is he oblivious to the trials the church is undergoing. What he knows, he said, is that he is compelled to become a priest because it allows him to serve God and his community in a way he finds more fulfilling than anything else, he explained.

Church leaders say they cooperate with the police in sharing information of a criminal nature, but not all the time.

But spokesmen for the Roman Catholic Church and the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, two of the oldest traditional denominations in the island, say there are circumstances where they will not share certain information with the authorities.

A priest, said Roman Catholic priest Monsignor Richard Albert, should not divulge what is told to him in confession.

"The seal of confession is absolute," said Albert in a Sunday Observer interview.

Roman Catholic canon law considers the the sacramental seal "inviolable", making it absolutely forbidden for a confessor to betray in any way a penitent given in words or other means.

Priests may not reveal what they had learned during confession to anyone, even under the threat of their own death or that of others.

The diocese prohibited Bhasker from performing any ministry after learning June 26 that an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor had been made against him, according to a statement posted on the diocese Web site.

APPLETON — A priest who says he was forced to resign as pastor of St. Mary Catholic Church in Greenville in 2004 is suing the Diocese of Green Bay.

A motion hearing is set Aug. 30 before Outagamie County Circuit Judge John Des Jardins on the lawsuit filed in April by the Rev. John Zickert of Appleton.

In the suit, Zickert, a Capuchin Franciscan priest, alleges the diocese and Bishop David Zubik, as well as 13 other defendants, spread false allegations and rumors regarding financial mismanagement and sexual impropriety that led to his wrongful termination Aug. 9, 2004.

The allegations also have kept him from gaining employment as a parish priest elsewhere, Zickert said.

SPURRED BY the recent sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in the presence of a church deacon, the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) is in the process of formulating a protocol to aid churches in dealing with sexual allegations brought against its members.

Right Reverend Lawrence Burke, Archbishop of Kingston, made the disclosure yesterday after a press briefing staged to announce plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the St. Benedict's the Moor Catholic Church.

The event was staged at the church's Chancery office at Hopefield Avenue, St. Andrew.

"At a meeting of the Jamaica Council of Churches yesterday (Thursday), we suggested that we try to develop a procedure, that we would share with all of the churches, suggesting how in cases like this, how they should go about investigating it and their reaction..." the archbishop revealed.

WITH reports of sexual misbehaviour in the church gaining currency, the umbrella Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) confirmed yesterday it had commissioned the preparation of a procedural manual to help churches handle cases of sexual abuse by their members.

"The fact of the matter is sex and sexuality is a challenging issue facing all society and we felt we would prepare this resource document with a view to offer it to all our churches, for use in the unlikely event that it becomes an issue for them in the days ahead," JCC president Rev Karl Johnson told the Observer.

Johnson, presiding over his first executive meeting since being elected JCC president a month ago, commissioned the project Thursday for a November first draft and a January 2007 implementation date.

July 14, 2006

CLEARLY, CHURCH FOUNDER Ruby Kelly must have been possessed by demons instead of the Holy Spirit on Sunday when she was blasting everything in sight in relation to the case of the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old girl involving members of her congregation.

For those who are not familiar with the case, the girl was being given a ride home in a van driven by a deacon of the church when she was assaulted by schoolboys who were also in the vehicle. The incident was captured on videotape.

Members of the church Kelly founded, the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, apparently displeased with how the matter was being handled, leaked a copy of the tape to The Gleaner and eventually the police got involved. The deacon and two of the schoolboys have since been arrested and charged.

So far, so good.

Now, this is where it all starts getting crazy. This Ruby Kelly apparently has major issues with what has transpired because her sense of reasoning has clearly gone out of whack. Why? The woman has gone out and slammed the members of her congregation who leaked the tape. "Because of you, the name of 6 Dayton Avenue is all over the place," she declared on Sunday.

By NICK HENDERSON
15jul06
A WOMAN forced to quit her school job so she could alert authorities to a teacher's sexual abuse of students has slammed the SA Catholic education system for inaction over her concerns.

Jenny Christall, a former education support officer at Port Pirie's St Mark's College, said she had been ignored when she told the school and Catholic authorities about sex abuse being perpetrated by religious education teacher Sunil Francis Clark in 2001.

Three years later, she had been forced to quit her job to circumvent a workplace confidentiality agreement and expose Clark's abuse, because no one had referred the matter to police.

In the District Court yesterday, Clark was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, with a non-parole period of three years, after admitting having sex with two schoolgirls.

SPOKANE -- The Catholic Diocese of Spokane can raise at least $35 million to divide among victims of sex abuse by priests and may have to ask parishioners to contribute if more money is needed, Bishop William Skylstad said in his latest letter to church members.

But a lawyer for sex-abuse victims said $35 million will not be nearly enough to settle the dozens of lawsuits filed against the diocese.

"In my opinion, he is not in the ballpark," said Duane Rasmussan, attorney for about one-third of the victims. "It'll take his original offer, plus."

Skylstad, who is head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had originally offered a $45 million settlement to 75 victims, but a federal bankruptcy judge rejected the offer because it did not deal with all the identified victims. There may be 60 to 70 additional victims, lawyers for both sides have said.

The Sonoma County Sheriff's Department is conducting an investigation to determine when clergy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa knew about alleged sexual misconduct by one of its priests who is now believed to be in Mexico.

Lt. Dave Edmonds said the county district attorney's office requested the investigation, separate from the one into Ochoa's alleged activities, and report early this week.

The district attorney's office has filed 10 felony charges of lewd acts against a minor against 67-year-old Rev. Francisco Xavier Ochoa of the St. Francis Solano Church in Sonoma. A warrant has been issued for Ochoa's arrest.

It has been alleged that Bishop Daniel Walsh and three priests knew about the alleged misconduct of Ochoa with a 12-year-old boy at least four days before Ochoa disappeared on May 2, but did not immediately report it to authorities as required by state law and church policy.

Associated Press
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - Prosecutors launched an investigation into whether Roman Catholic church officials committed a crime by waiting several days to alert authorities of sex abuse allegations against a priest who may have fled to Mexico.

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua on Thursday confirmed an investigation into whether Bishop Daniel Walsh of the Santa Rosa diocese and other officials violated a state law requiring doctors, nurses, teachers and clergy members to immediately report child sex abuse claims.

The church learned April 27 about allegations against the Rev. Xavier Ochoa. He was suspended the next day after admitting an incident of sexual abuse with a 12-year-old boy.

But the diocese did not report the allegations to Child Protective Services until May 1, and Ochoa disappeared the next day.

The Sonoma County district attorney confirmed Thursday his office will review an investigative report to determine if Catholic Church officials committed a criminal act by waiting four days to alert law enforcement to alleged sex abuse by a priest.

The Rev. Xavier Ochoa, a Sonoma priest suspected of fleeing to Mexico, is charged with 10 felony counts and one misdemeanor count of child sex abuse involving three alleged victims.

"We will be documenting a separate investigation surrounding that issue," said Edmonds. "Anytime there's a criminal investigation, we look at all aspects of the case, and the effort is to determine if a crime occurred."

By Lauren Ahwan
14jul06
A PEDOPHILE priest was not a sexual predator but honestly believed he was in love with his teenage victim at the time of his offending, a court has heard.

The victim, now an adult, today told the South Australian District Court that former Anglican priest Raymond Frederick Ayles, 61, had destroyed his childhood and devastated his own plans of joining the church.

"I felt trapped in the relationship," he said.

"What person in their right mind asks a minor to send their pubic hair and semen stains in a letter, let alone sends you theirs?

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced this week the separate arrests of two men arrested in an online sex sting known as “Operation Teensaver”.

The first arrest was that of Thomas Bender, 71, a former priest and convicted sex offender who allegedly attempted via AOL instant message conversations to initiate a sexual relationship with a detective posing as a 14-year-old boy that he met online.

Bender, who is not a resident of Long Island, reportedly journeyed to Nassau County with the intention of meeting the “boy” at an undisclosed location for sex.

He is being charged with five counts of Attempted Disseminating Indecent Material to Minors in the First Degree, a Class D Felony, and one count of Attempted Criminal Sexual Act, a Misdemeanor.

By Linda Maule
FALMOUTH – An activist who has criticized the Roman Catholic church for its response to sexual abuse by priests is objecting to the planned presence of the nation’s highest ranking church official at a retirement Mass on Sunday at Holy Martyrs Parish.

Paul Kendrick of Cumberland, who helped found the Maine chapter of Voice of the Faithful, has written to retiring pastor Monsignor Charles Murphy, objecting to the expected attendance by Murphy’s friend, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, at the Mass celebrating Monsignor Murphy’s retirement.

According to Kendrick, Cardinal Levada, when he was in San Francisco, “covered up for priests who abused kids, putting these priests into parishes where kids were at risk.”

Last year, Levada was appointed to the most influential Vatican post ever held by an American – prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the position was last held by the current pope.). He was elevated to the position of cardinal in February.

At the Vatican, Levada’s role includes reviewing abuse allegations against priests worldwide.

One thing is certain, religions are obsolete when reforms do not proceed from them.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE WHOLE TOWN has been mesmerised all this week by the story of three teenage boys who, in a testosterone rush, took a 13-year-old girl as their sexual prey. The act was recorded on picture phone and video-cam, watched by a deacon of the CHURCH. No ALLELUIAS here, please. Let no one even attempt an AMEN.

The outrageous and cruel act may well have lain hidden like so many dirty little secrets, were it not that in the congregation where the deacon was wont to praise the Lord, there were people who decided to bring what was in the dark into the light. Some call it whistle-blowing. Some say it was the hand of the Almighty. Whatever it was, the fact that a copy of the videotape found its way into the hands of journalists has served to alert us to the fact that this country could do well with a revival.

The investigative team of reporters at the Gleaner is to be commended, even more so as they did not let the matter rest merely by writing a story, but they introduced the tape to the police. Since then, we've been enmeshed in what could easily be a movie script, our own version of the popular film title: Sex, Lies and Videotape. Some lies must have been told along the way but we think BETRAYAL played a major role in the drama. The young girl was betrayed by young people near her own age and even more so by an adult in a position of authority.

The Catholic Church's sex scandals surrounded Bishop Charles Grahmann from his first days in the Dallas Diocese to his last.

They fueled a long line of lawsuits, legal payouts, flirtations with bankruptcy, criminal investigations and high-powered calls for the bishop's resignation. The scandals also exposed misconduct by some of his closest allies, damaged lives, divided parishioners and occasioned a rare public split in the church's hierarchy.

Bishop Grahmann survived it all, quietly but defiantly, insisting that he had done his best.

To be sure, Bishop Grahmann inherited many of his problems. And, unlike other bishops around the country, he didn't make a habit of transferring abusive priests from parish to parish.

Matthew, a 12-year-old altar boy, was sexually abused by his priest. At age 22, he recognized the harm that had been done and sued the church.

Allison, an eighth-grader, was sexually abused by her schoolteacher. She recognized the harm that had been done three years later and sued the school district.

But there's a world of difference in their two cases. The chance of a child sex-abuse victim in Oregon recovering monetary damages in a lawsuit depends on who the abuser was. The church had to pay; the school district didn't. The difference? Allison was sexually abused by a public employee.

Oregon has a law that protects child sex-abuse victims. Recognizing that the detrimental effects of abuse can take many years to surface, the law allows a victim to file a lawsuit either by age 24 or three years after recognizing the harm -- whichever is later.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Roman Catholic Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly turns 75 on today, a milestone that starts a process toward retirement for the spiritual leader of an archdiocese shaken by a clergy sex abuse scandal during his long tenure.

As required by church law, Kelly will submit his letter of resignation to the Vatican upon turning 75, but the archbishop has said it could take up to 18 months for a successor to be named as head of the Louisville archdiocese.

Until then, Kelly will remain Louisville archbishop. The archdiocese spans 24 counties with more than 200,000 Catholics.

Kelly, who was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment, has been archbishop since 1982. He presided over the archdiocese amid the tumult of the priest abuse scandal. The archdiocese agreed in 2003 to pay $25.7 million to settle with more than 240 victims of sexual abuse by priests or other church workers.

Many of the abuse cases occurred before Kelly’s arrival in Louisville.

The settlement, one of the largest single payouts in a series of sex-abuse settlements across the country, put a financial strain on the archdiocese that led to staff reductions and higher parish assessments.

Worshippers leaving Thursday’s midday Mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption said they were satisfied with Kelly’s handling of the scandal.

How much longer Bishop Grahmann will serve is up to Pope Benedict XVI. But the bishop said he is ready to end his often-contentious 16 years in Dallas.

"I hope that he writes on my letter; 'You can go fishing,' " Bishop Grahmann said in an interview last week.

The bishop said he hopes his successor – who has not been named – is a Hispanic bishop with enough administrative experience to guide a sprawling, nine-county diocese divided by class and culture. ...
The scandal: Even before disclosures of child abuse by Catholic priests rocked the U.S. church elsewhere, the Dallas Diocese became infamous in 1997, with the civil trial of Rudolph Kos, who molested altar boys in three Dallas parishes.

Although much of the abuse happened before Bishop Grahmann came to Dallas, he was called to testify at the trial. A Dallas County jury decided that he and other church officials had been "grossly negligent" and had conspired to cover up the abuse and its aftermath. The jury awarded a total of almost $120 million to 11 victims. (Later, the diocese settled with the victims for about one-fourth of that amount. Mr. Kos, defrocked, is serving a life sentence.)

July 13, 2006

(AP) CANON CITY, Colo. A 73-year-old former pastor has been sentenced to probation for 10 years to life after pleading guilty to a charge of sexual contact with a teenage girl who belonged to his church.

Allan M. Miller of Williamsburg, former pastor of Victory Apostolic Church in Florence, apologized to the girl, her family and his family during his sentencing hearing Wednesday.

He pleaded guilty in May to sexual assault on a child. Prosecutors dropped two other charges as part of a plea agreement.

"Just about everything important to me I have blown -- my ministry of 30 years -- and this has put a tremendous strain on my wife. I want to make up for what I've done," Miller said.

A ROMAN Catholic priest walked free from a court but with his career in tatters this week after admitting sending pornographic photographs of children over the internet.

Father Barnaby Dowling was caught in a trawl by detectives who linked him to a child pornography ring.

The 47-year-old priest, of St Osmund's Church in Salisbury, had an unblemished 22-year record until he was snared in the police probe. Magistrates in Andover, where he appeared for sentence on Monday, told Dowling he deserved a custodial sentence for admitting eight offences relating to indecent pictures of children.

However, presiding magistrate Jackie Lampard said Dowling's penalty would best be served in the community. She ordered him to attend a three-year sex offenders' rehabilitation programme.

FORMER DEACON of the Church of Dayton Diamond Ridge, Donovan Jones, and the three teenage boys implicated in the sexual molestation case of a 13-year-old girl, will spend the next eight days in jail.

Resident Magistrate Georgiana Fraser yesterday denied the four bail after viewing a DVD containing scenes of the young girl's assault. The accused will return to court on July 21.

The hearing took place in camera at the Half-Way Tree Resident Magistrate Court. RM Fraser spent more than two hours hearing bail applications after which she requested to see a copy of the offending tape before making a decision.

Jones, 46, is charged with nine counts of indecent assault, three counts of assault with intent to rape, one count of cruelty to a child, one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one count of aiding and abetting indecent assault.

DONOVAN Jones, the deacon of the Dayton Avenue Church of God, and three teenage boys who were Tuesday night charged with the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in the back of a van in April, were yesterday denied bail when they appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court.

The other accused are Jones Rogers, 18, who allegedly video-recorded the incident, Shamar Morgan, 18, and a 14-year-old young boy, who were both allegedly seen on the tape assaulting the girl.

After acceding to the prosecution's request to have the matter transformed into in-camera proceedings, presiding magistrate Georgianna Fraser cleared the courtroom and listened for approximately one-and-half hours while bail applications were made on behalf of the four accused.

"I can't," the 8-year-old cried each time she was asked to tell the 12 members of the jury what "Brother Jeff" did to her when she was in his day care center.

The girl, dressed in a blue dress and wearing a white bow in her brown curly hair, was taken off the witness stand after she broke down and couldn't go on with questioning from prosecutors.

But in a taped interview with law enforcement, the girl, who was 6 at the time, explained how Jefferson Marian Moore Jr., whom she knew as "Brother Jeff," raped and molested her when she attended the Dogwood City Preschool and Daycare.

Moore, 58, was the owner of the center at 22284 Texas Highway 155 South, which has been closed since the investigation began in December 2004. He is also a preacher at a church next door to the day care and his guitar shop. He is on trial for aggravated sexual assault of a child. He faces five years to life in prison if convicted by the Smith County jury in 7th District Judge Kerry Russell's court.

SCRANTON – An attorney for the Scranton Diocese encouraged three witnesses to be “less than honest” when testifying in a federal lawsuit stemming from the abuse of a teenage boy by a diocesan priest, according to an exhibit in the case.

The witnesses, employees of a Duryea church, were told last year not to testify about their belief that then-Bishop James C. Timlin might be unwilling to pursue allegations against Father Albert M. Liberatore Jr., the exhibit says.

The witnesses had the impression “Timlin was, as it were, in Fr. Liberatore’s ‘HIP POCKET,’ ” according to the exhibit, a November 2005 e-mail authored by another priest who had served with Liberatore. They also believed Liberatore was “holding something over Timlin’s head.”

Timlin, in an interview Wednesday, called the claims “ridiculous.”

The priest who wrote the e-mail, Father Edward Williams, wrote that he and the witnesses had been “told” about Timlin’s possible reluctance to pursue allegations against Liberatore, but he did not identify who told them. Williams could not be reached for comment.

(July 13, 2006) — GATES — The case of Gates priest Father John Steger has been moved to Aug. 23 in Town Court.

Steger, 80, head of St. Jude the Apostle Church in Gates was arrested in May and charged with two counts of second-degree sexual abuse and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all four counts being misdemeanors. His lawyer, John Speranza, asked Gates Town Court Judge Peter Pupatelli on Wednesday to make the Gates Police Department give him the raw notes of the statement from the alleged victim.

SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lionsgate , the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, announced today it has acquired domestic distribution rights to DELIVER US FROM EVIL, a documentary about a pedophile Catholic priest whose serial rapes were known to, and concealed by, the American Church for over 30 years. The feature film debut by Emmy Award-winning writer/director Amy Berg, DELIVER US FROM EVIL made its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival, where it won the top nonfiction prize, the Target Documentary Award. The film is the first production from Berg's company, Disarming Films, and was produced by Berg, Hermass Lassalle and Frank Donner. DELIVER US FROM EVIL is slated for a Fall 2006 release. The announcement was made by Lionsgate President of Theatrical Films Tom Ortenberg.

July 12, 2006

The latest chapter in an ongoing saga pitting an Orthodox rabbi from Monsey, N.Y., against female former congregants who have accused him of sexual harassment is raising broad legal questions about the right of free speech in cyberspace.

Rabbi Mordecai Tendler, who was accused of sexually propositioning women who came to him seeking spiritual guidance, petitioned a California court May 24 to force Google — the Internet giant that hosts electronic message boards through its Blogspot division — to disclose the identities of four anonymous writers who post comments to Web journals, known as blogs. Tendler, the scion of a storied rabbinic lineage, has fiercely denied the allegations of sexual harassment since they first surfaced in 2004. He claims that the bloggers have posted "false, misleading, and defamatory materials" about him on their Web sites.

In response to the petition, Public Citizen, a national public interest group whose litigation group has played a lead role in defending free speech on the Internet, filed motions on July 6 to throw out Tendler's case and reimburse the defendants' attorney fees, saying that the request violates the bloggers' First Amendment rights to free speech.

HUNTINGTON, Ind. (Our Sunday Visitor) – When Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legion of Christ, was asked by the Vatican not to exercise his priestly ministry in public in May, many took it as a slap – either a slap in the face to a visionary, charismatic leader who is being persecuted despite his innocence, or a slap on the wrist to a man who has betrayed and abused young men in his care.

Nobody, it seems, believes that Father Maciel, who also founded the Regnum Christi movement, either got what he deserved or deserved what he got.

Jim Fair, the U.S. spokesman for the Legion of Christ, a congregation of priests also known as the Legionaries, said the limits placed on Father Maciel's ministry will have little practical effect on the day-to-day operations of the international religious order. Father Maciel, 86, stepped down as superior last year.

WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING notes that "there are seasons, in human affairs, of inward and outward revelation, when new depths seem to be broken up in the soul, when new wants are unfolded in multitudes, and a new undefined good is thirsted for. There are periods when ... to dare, is the highest wisdom".

This is a period in Jamaica when it is time, once again to take note that to dare is indeed the highest wisdom. There are several occasions during our past history of colonialism and slavery when we have dared, when we have had the courage to engage inwardly and outwardly so that something else could emerge - "a new undefined good".

THE HORRORS OF RAPE

As we look around us, we are absolutely amazed at what we are seeing. Taking last week alone, we see a situation where a deacon of a church, charged with the responsibility of transporting our sons and daughters, allegedly watches and directs young men in the most degrading activity of all - the gang rape of one of our daughters. It is captured on video so that sick minds can be fed. All of us who are mothers and fathers - all of us who parent - must feel a deep sense of shame as we reflect on the causes and consequences of this stain on our humanhood.

A CHURCH deacon and three teenage boys, who are at the centre of a sexual molestation case, are expected to appear in the Corporate Area Criminal Court today.

The deacon, Donovan James, 47, James Rogers, 18, a 15-year-old youth and another teenage boy were last night slapped with charges ranging from cruelty to child, assault with intent to rape, conspiracy, aiding and abbeting, and indecent assault.

James, otherwise known as 'Uncle Jimmy, will face four charges.

While the police have confirmed that the deacon, who is affiliated with the Church Dayton Diamond Ridge, and the teenagers will be in court this morning.

Trauma has a face. It is the face of that 14-year-old girl, gang-raped and then video-recorded for public scrutiny. Trauma has eyes. It is most people who viewed the abuse and violation, including journalists and interns, and then had to have a strong drink afterwards or to seek medical attention.

Trauma has a face

Trauma also has ears. It is people who did not experience or view the horror but nevertheless felt tremendous emotional pain when the story was recounted. It is also people who had memories of a previous trauma triggered just by hearing the facts of this horrible crime.

This is trauma - you may witness it, experience it or just be told about - it's enough to bring about internal conflict and emotional pain.

I would not want to recount the details of this case here, lest I cause more pain on the abused child or trigger memories of someone else's traumatic event, but as a mental health professional doing sessions in inner-city communities I have faced other girls like this 14-year-old. Some of them have been gang-raped not once but two and three times. Some of them could only continue into the next day by stepping outside of themselves and pretending that this 'thing' did not happen to them.

By Kelli Phillips
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Two psychologists testified in a priest molestation civil trial Tuesday that the alleged victim shows signs of abuse, despite test findings that he "overreported" symptoms.

Dr. Jennifer Keller and Dr. Bruce Arnow, both of Stanford University, took the stand as expert witnesses for the plaintiff, Joey Piscitelli, at the Superior Court trial in Martinez.

The former altar boy alleges that he was abused by the Rev. Stephen Whelan, a vice principal, when he was a freshman and sophomore at Salesian High School in Richmond from 1969 to 1971.

Keller and Arnow met with Piscitelli separately after he filed a lawsuit against the Salesian order in 2003. Keller administered several personality tests, while Arnow took an in-depth history of Piscitelli's life.

July 12, 2006
By MATT BURGARD, Courant Staff Writer A Hartford pastor accused of sexually assaulting and impregnating an 11-year-girl appeared in court to plead not guilty Tuesday, while dozens of his followers showed up to offer support.

Modesto Reyes, 52, the pastor at Iglesia De Dios, Cristo Te Llama, church on Broad Street, was overcome with emotion after a crowd of about 40 followers showed up at Superior Court in Hartford as a sign of support for him, said his lawyer, William Gerace.

"They were from his congregation and from outside his congregation, and they were all pro-Modesto," Gerace said.

Hartford police arrested Reyes June 22 and charged him with four counts of first-degree sexual assault. He is accused of sexually assaulting a girl whose family attends his church on four occasions from August to December 2005.

Demonstrations are planned this weekend at the four Roman Catholic cathedrals in Massachusetts by supporters of a bill that would extend the statute of limitations from 15 years to 25 years for criminal cases involving the sexual abuse of children.

The state Legislature’s Joint Committee of the Judiciary earlier this month favorably reported out the legislation and Statehouse observers believe the bill will be voted up or down before July 31, the day lawmakers recess for the summer.

Supporters of the legislation are expected to pass out leaflets and other informational materials Sunday morning at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Worcester, Holy Cross Cathedral in Boston, St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield and St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

The cathedrals serve as “seats” of the four Catholic dioceses in Massachusetts.

Sage Staff
Residential school survivors are one step closer to receiving their share of a $1.9 billion compensation package now that the federal cabinet has put its stamp of approval on plans for the pay out.

That approval finalizes the agreement-in-principle announced in November 2005 but the plan must be approved in nine provincial courts and a five-month opt-out period must pass before the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement will come into effect.

Once that happens, every eligible former residential school student will receive a common experience payment of $10,000 and an additional $3,000 for each year they were in residential school beyond the first year. The compensation will only be paid out to former students who were still living on May 30, 2005, the date negotiations to hammer out the agreement began, and they must have attended a recognized Indian residential school.

The VIRTUS® Protecting All God's Children Program outlines five basic steps parishes and schools can take to prevent child abuse.

This is the program adopted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to ensure safe environments in all parishes, schools and archdiocesan programs. More than 30,000 adults --- clergy, deacons, principals, directors of religious education, youth ministers, teachers, catechists, employees, parents and volunteers --- have participated in these training sessions. The VIRTUS training is mandated for all adults working with or around children.

The focus of the training is to increase awareness about the nature of child sexual abuse. VIRTUS, using awareness sessions, videos and online training bulletins, educates the adults on how to recognize the warning signs and what to do when they suspect a child or youth may be a victim of abuse.

The police have charged the church deacon and two teenaged boys implicated in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

Lawyers representing the deacon and the two boys appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday where one of the attorneys filed an application for the deacon and one of the boys to be charged or released.

The attorney representing the other boy did not file an application as he said, based on the question and answer, he expected his client to be charged and brought before the Court on Tuesday.

But police investigators told the court that following questioning on Monday, the deacon, 47-year-old Donavon James otherwise called "Uncle Jimmy", 18-year-old James Rodgers and a 15-year-old boy were charged.

THUNDER BAY, ON, July 11 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Grand Chief
Stan Beardy and Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler are pleased with last
Friday's decision to continue court processes in the current criminal case
against Ralph Rowe - a former pilot and missionary school master charged with
various counts of assault.
"The decision is definitely a sense of relief for those affected not only
across NAN territory, but the entire province of Ontario," said NAN Deputy
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler. "Now it's our job to move forward to prepare for
the trial by gaining support for the victims." ...
"This isn't just about Ralph Rowe, but about an assault on our people by
the church," said NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy. "By employing Ralph Rowe, the
church did not fulfil its obligation to ensure the safety of its patrons - the
church should be a safe place."

RESIDENT Magistrate Georgiana Fraser yesterday refused an application, in the Half-Way-Tree Criminal Court, from attorney Paul Beswick, seeking the release of the 46 year-old Dayton Avenue Church of God deacon and two teenage suspects, who are linked to the sexual assault of a 13 year-old schoolgirl.

The deacon, who was driving the van in which the teenage girl was sexually assaulted, and the two teenage boys accused of assaulting her, were taken into police custody last week for interrogation.

Meanwhile, the teenage boy who allegedly filmed the act has also been taken into police custody, but up to yesterday evening charges were not yet laid against the four.

NEW YORK -- Jimmy Breslin is standing in the kitchen of his 16th-floor penthouse apartment on the Upper West Side, making coffee.

Nearly two years since he gave up writing a regular newspaper column, which is like Roger Clemens giving up pitching, or Tony Bennett giving up singing, Breslin is still writing, maybe more than ever. The former Newsday columnist is working on a play, a novel, a screenplay, whatever. High above the Manhattan pavement, he is like a fish in water.

``If I stop writing," Jimmy Breslin says, ``I die."

He is Irish, by temperament if not citizenship, and so dying sometimes preoccupies him. Love and death. They are the themes at the heart of his new play, ``Love Lasts on Myrtle Avenue," about a couple and 9/11, which gets a staged reading at the Cape Cod Theatre Project in Falmouth for three nights beginning tomorrow. ...

He is still, in some ways, working through his 14th book, ``The Church That Forgot Christ," published in 2004 in the wake of the Catholic clergy sexual-abuse crisis. Don't get him going about the people who run the Catholic Church.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The name of the victims in this article are not identified in keeping with the Tyler Morning Telegraph's policy to protect the identity of victims of sexual abuse and to encourage the reporting of such crimes.

A Smith County jury was selected Tuesday to hear the case of a former Dogwood City day care owner charged with sexually assaulting young children in his care.

Jefferson Marian Moore Jr., 58, of Flint, has been indicted on three first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He faces five years to life in prison on each charge, if convicted.

The panel of 12 was selected in 7th District Judge Kerry Russell's court on Tuesday. The state is scheduled to begin presenting its evidence Wednesday morning.

Moore was the owner of the Dogwood City Preschool and Daycare, 22284 Texas Highway 155 South, which has been closed since the investigation began in December 2004.

Moore was arrested after two children told deputies about his alleged sexual assaults.

As part of his conditions of bond, Moore was to have no contact with children. Russell allowed Moore to continue as pastor of the Dogwood City Chapel as long as he had no unsupervised contact with children.

Years of running the media gauntlet brought on by the church’s clergy sex abuse scandal has made more bishops more media savvy, according to media specialists who advise the bishops and journalists who cover the church. As a result, coverage of the church is better -- though not necessarily more positive, they say.

“I see a real change,” said Barry McLoughlin, a consultant who conducts voluntary media training for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Unlike a decade ago, bishops are turning in “a solid performance” when dealing with the press.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, who was president of the U.S. bishops’ conference during the height of bad publicity surrounding the abuse crisis, said bishops have improved in their dealings with the media, but the improvement hasn’t been uniform.

The Catholic Diocese of Spokane can raise at least $35 million to divide among victims of sex abuse by priests, and may have to ask parishioners to contribute if more money is needed, Bishop William Skylstad said in his latest letter to church members.

But a lawyer for sex abuse victims said $35 million will not be nearly enough to settle the dozens of lawsuits filed against the diocese.

"In my opinion, he is not in the ballpark," said Duane Rasmussan, attorney for about one third of the victims. "It'll take his original offer, plus."

Skylstad, who is head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, had originally offered a $45 million settlement to 75 victims, but a federal bankruptcy judge rejected the offer because it did not deal with all the identified victims. There may be 60 to 70 additional victims, lawyers for both sides have said.

The first segment of our four-part series that examines crucial challenges and opportunities facing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton appeared this past Sunday and has produced a great deal of spectrum spanning reaction.

Part one, a handful of stories, which included an investigation into how the diocese handled known sexual abusers in its ranks, produced a response that ranged from astonishment that we would devote so much newsprint to an old negative story, to appreciation for finally making sure that an important subject that was buried in court documents and diocesan files saw the light of day.

We have heard from priests, some even had some choice words for the Times Leader from the pulpit Sunday, parishioners, non-Catholics, law enforcement officials and people who also claim to have been victimized by abusive priests.

While we haven’t heard from the Diocese, some of us were on the phone with Bishop Emeritus Timlin yesterday.

The Bishop had not responded to repeated requests for an interview by the newspaper during the months when we were reporting and writing the series.

Amid shouts of amen and hallelujah, the founder of the St. Andrew, Jamaica, Dayton Avenue Church of God, Ruby Kelly, Sunday chastised whistle blowers in her congregation for making known the sexual molestation case of a 14–year–old schoolgirl.

The girl was being given a ride home in a van driven by a deacon of the church when the schoolboys began assaulting her.

Church members, dissatisfied with how the alleged molestation was being dealt with by the church, leaked a copy of the X–rated tape to The Gleaner.

KINGSTON - Parents and human rights activists demonstrated outside a Jamaican evangelical church, accusing it of trying to cover up the alleged gang rape of a 13-year-old girl while she was riding in the deacon's van.

By Ryan Huff
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Witnesses in a priest molestation civil trial on Monday supported and refuted the credibility of an altar boy who says he was abused some 35 years ago at a Richmond Catholic high school.

The former altar boy, Joey Piscitelli, says a vice principal abused him between 1969 and 1971 at Salesian High School.

Piscitelli's brother and therapist testified in a Martinez courtroom Monday that the victim told them about the abuse within the past decade.

"Every memory he's ever told me has always been the same," said Berkeley therapist Dean Lobovits, who has seen Piscitelli for 11 years. "He's always been consistent."

Members of at least five civic groups demonstrated Monday afternoon in front of the Dayton Avenue Church of God to express their disgust with its handling of recent allegations that one of its deacons watched while a 13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by at least three teenagers.

Reports are that senior members of the church were aware of the allegations but did not report the matter to the police.

Church officials have also defended the deacon and questioned the handling of the allegations by the police and the media.

In the meantime, at least one Christian organization has reacted angrily to reports that a senior member of the church has criticised the persons who leaked the information to the police and the media.

The Lawyer's Christian Fellowship says it is deeply disturbed by the article that was published in Monday's newspapers.

The Christian lawyers say if the newspaper articles accurately reflect what took place at the Dayton Avenue Church of God on Sunday, this would be most distressing.

MEMBERS OF civil society yesterday staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the Dayton Avenue Church of God, the worship centre of the deacon at the heart of the sexual assault case involving a teenage girl.

Bearing placards laced with stinging messages - one of which read 'Suffer the little children does not mean sexual abuse' - the more than 50 people who turned up for the demonstration voiced their anger at the church's reaction to and handling of the crime.

Many were incensed at comments from church founder Ruby Kelly, who in a Sunday service, chastised the whistle blowers in her congregation and suggested they would be punished by God.

Hillary Nicholson, of chief organisers Women's Media Watch, said the demonstration was staged in order to send a message that sexual offences should not be tolerated.

MOST WELL-THINKING JAMAICANS were disgusted at the sexual assault of an underage schoolgirl in the back of a van, while the act was being videotaped - the van allegedly driven by a deacon of the Dayton Avenue Church of God. Now comes Ms. Ruby Kelly, the reputed founder of the church, who in a Sunday service diatribe has castigated the whistle-blowers in the congregation who turned over the tapes to The Gleaner, which in turn, reported the matter to the police.

Seemingly concerned primarily with her self-appointed importance as leader of the Dayton Avenue flock, Ms. Kelly displayed not a shred of compassion for the innocent victim of the rape but asked of the deacon and two confederates now in police custody, "What have they done wrong?" In so doing, she has displayed an abysmal ignorance of the moral and legal concept of being an accessory to the commission of an alleged crime, whether against the laws of God or the laws of the land.

Even before I was asked to view the video footage of the 14-year-old girl who was gang-raped recently for my comments on the incident, I already felt an overwhelming sense of sadness and despair, and I didn't even know if viewing the tape was the best thing to do.(By the way, I am urging the media to treat matters like these in a very sensitive and caring manner, in the interest of the young victims and their families.)

On my way to the location, I received two telephone calls, one of them from a complete stranger. The lady said that she and her co-workers had been discussing the case all day, having seen the broadcast on television the night before. In the middle of the conversation with me she started weeping, confessing that she had been unable to sleep the night before, and felt, along with the other women on her job, that they couldn't absorb any more of the pain and heartache. She wanted to know what we were going to do about the abominable situation facing our children.

No sooner than she hung up, another telephone call came in from a friend I hadn't heard from in a long time. She was distraught, but ready for action. She too expressed the fact that she was no longer able to withstand the day-to-day atrocities against the children of our country, and felt that we have definitely reached the tipping point. I allowed my own tears to flow freely throughout both conversations, because I knew that I too needed the release and the healing.

This newspaper would not use the rantings of one church leader to judge the moral conscience of Jamaica's Christian community. In fact, while we maintain that people's spirituality cannot and shouldn't be measured by the hours they spend attending church, we are also well aware that the majority of Jamaicans who do meet for worship and fellowship weekly are decent human beings.

We were therefore appalled at the repulsive comments made in prayer at the Dayton Avenue Church of God on Sunday and reported in yesterday's edition of the Observer.

Our story reported a church elder as castigating members of her congregation who, she claimed, leaked to the Press information of a deacon's alleged involvement in the sexual assault of a schoolgirl by a group of boys.

This church leader, claiming that she was delivering God's words, said God would deal with those who betrayed the church by revealing the incident.

Representatives from more than 14 organisations, led by Women's Media Watch, protesting yesterday outside the Dayton Avenue Church of God in Kingston, following allegations that a deacon of the church watched while a 14-year old schoolgirl was sexually assaulted in the back of a van he was driving.

"Carnal abuse is a crime"; "Should our children suffer sexual abuse and poor adult guidance?" "Leaders must protect and guide, not abuse"; "Enforce the Child Care and Protection Act"; and "Mandatory reporting of child abuse", read some of the placards.

Women's Media Watch programme co-ordinator Hilliary Nicholson told the Observer that the protest was organised jointly with the Jamaica Coalition for the Rights of the Child, Fathers in Action, and Jamaica Independent Council for Human Rights to draw attention to the blatant abuse of children.

MEDINA - Leonard Robertson's double life caught up with him late last year.

To the public, he was a God-fearing Christian -- the leader of a small church in Medina who also served as the volunteer chaplain for the Medina Police Department and a man who gave homes to children without homes, sometimes adopting and fostering as many as 16 children at a time.

But Robertson was far different away from the public eye, police and prosecutors say.

On Monday, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing four children whom he cared for over the years.

The Vatican's Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, as it is called, hears appeals of select cases that cannot be settled in the church's lower tribunals.

"It's a very prestigious position to be named to," said Rocco Palmo, U.S. correspondent for The Tablet, a British weekly that reports on the Vatican. "It says the archbishop of St. Louis is still a national leader in the eyes of the church."

Many of the cases the dozen or so judges hear deal with disputes between Vatican departments. The tribunal also hears appeals of other cases - for instance, in parish closings, or the removal of priests for allegations of sexual abuse of minors.

July 10, 2006

THE Irish Catholic bishops were so appalled 60 years ago by evidence of immoral behaviour among priests, that they secretly authorised the setting up of a 'House for Clergy Under Correction'.

A previously unpublished document reveals that the bishops were so alarmed at the scale of the clerical scandals that they went to the extraordinary step of deliberately concealing from the faithful the true purpose for which inmates were sent to the detention centre in Waterford.

In the confidential document, endorsed by the bishops at their private meeting in Maynooth in 1946, they agreed that the proposed House "be given a name which will not have a defamatory connotation."

Inmate

A recommendation from an Episcopal Committee appointed at the June Maynooth meeting in 1945 suggested that the House should be called either St Joseph's Home for Priests or St Joseph's Convalescent Home for Priests.

BOSTON - The Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts support the proposed increase in the criminal statute of limitations and once again apologized for the suffering sexual abuse of children has caused survivors and their families.

In a statement signed by Bishop McManus, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston; Bishop George W. Coleman of Fall River and Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell of Springfield, they said that state law enforcement officials “should be given the tools they need to remove sexual predators from our communities.”

The statement follows:

“The Joint Committee on the Judiciary has favorably reported a bill to increase the criminal statute of limitations arising from the sexual abuse of minors.

“Proponents of extending the criminal statute of limitations acknowledge that legislation was filed in response to reports in this Commonwealth and around the country of past sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church. We, the Roman Catholic Bishops in Massachusetts, again recognize and apologize for the suffering that has occurred for survivors and their families.

Internal letters from the Santa Rosa Diocese suggest that Bishop Daniel Walsh and other local Catholic leaders knew the Rev. Xavier Ochoa had developed an inappropriate relationship with the family of one of his alleged sex abuse victims years before Ochoa's admission to sexual impropriety.

The correspondence paints a picture of a desperate mother begging the diocese to keep Ochoa away from her family because of continual harassment and intrusion.

The letters make no mention of sexual abuse. But the half-dozen letters chronicle a relationship that sex abuse experts say was manipulative and should have alerted church officials to investigate the actions of Ochoa.

Ochoa, who was an assistant pastor at St. Francis Solano parish in Sonoma, has been charged with molesting three boys and is believed to have fled to Mexico.

An attorney for the church Friday confirmed that the letters were part of Ochoa's personnel file and were reviewed in connection with Ochoa's admission of sex abuse. But he would not speculate on whether the letters, which date from as far back as 2001, should have alerted church officials to the potential for sexual misconduct.

A church elder at the Dayton Avenue Church of God yesterday claimed that a member of the congregation had leaked information of their deacon's alleged involvement in the sexual assault of a schoolgirl and warned that God would exact vengeance on the whistleblower.

"I know them that betray, I know them that sell out, fighting against each other, that has caused my name to be all over. I shall deal with them, I am a God of vengeance," the elderly lady prayed aloud, claiming that the words were God's.

"Selling our one another out to unbelievers, all that is establishing over the country about Dayton Avenue is because we are against one another," she said.
The more than 70 members of the church present at yesterday morning's service voiced their agreement with the elder, saying "Amen" and "Hallelujah" during the prayer that ran for well over an hour.

AMID shouts of amen and hallelujah, the founder of the Dayton Avenue Church of God, Ruby Kelly, yesterday chastised whistle blowers in her congregation for making known the sexual molestation case of a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

The girl was being given a ride home in a van driven by a deacon of the church when the schoolboys began assaulting her.

Church members, dissatisfied with how the alleged molestation was being dealt with by the church, leaked a copy of the X-rated tape to The Gleaner.

Nelspruit: A girl's home is supposed to give her warmth and comfort and she can reasonably expect her father to protect her from potential abusers but, for a Mpumalanga daughter, her home became a "prison" camp and her father the "abuser".

Now her future is in tatters after her dad allegedly
convinced his family it was Biblically correct to sleep with her - and to father three children with her. ...

Police say he started their own "church" at his house where he preached that his daughter had to sleep with him so that she would go to heaven.

July 09, 2006

THE pew sheets for yesterday's 10.30am choral eucharist at St Paul's Cathedral noted simply that the sermon would be preached by the Right Reverend Dr Peter Hollingworth.

The text on which his words would draw was contained in the Second Book of Samuel and dealt with the affairs of kings. The unspoken subtext was of a quiet path to redemption.

It has been just over three years since Peter Hollingworth's commission as Australia's 23rd governor-general was revoked by the Queen. His departure from the job followed months of steadily escalating controversy. There were allegations of decades-old rape from a woman who subsequently took her own life, allegations that were strenuously denied and ultimately dismissed. There was also the issue that would finally cut short Dr Hollingworth's tenure, his support, as bishop of Brisbane, for a pedophile priest.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A rabbi’s petition to disclose the identities of anonymous bloggers who wrote on the Internet about his alleged sexual misconduct should be denied, Public Citizen said in motions being filed today in the California Superior Court for Santa Clara County.

The plaintiff, Orthodox rabbi Mordechai Tendler, who served a congregation in New Hempstead, N.Y., was accused of sexual abuse and harassment by some of the women whom he had been advising. The controversy garnered much mainstream media attention when Tendler was expelled from the Rabbinical Council of America in March 2005, sued by one of his accusers in December 2005 and dismissed from his rabbinical post by his congregation in 2006.

A senior member of a church run by retired Appeal Court judge Martin Wright evidently stood by and did nothing while schoolboys in a van he was driving gang-raped a teenage girl and recorded the act. Justice Wright professed to know of the incident but said the deacon had not participated in the act. The church is reported to have taken disciplinary action against the deacon but it is not known what form it took.

It is enough to make your hair stand on end. A child is screaming - a teenage girl is being gang-raped in the back seat of a moving car. The car is being driven by the deacon of a church. The rapists are the girl's schoolmates.

There is a voice apparently giving instructions to the hysterical girl although it is not clear that the hysterical child can hear anything but the sound of her own terror.

The car is being driven by a man, the deacon of a church to which all the participants in this obscene drama are connected. We do not know whether it is his voice giving instructions to the girl. We do know that his pastor says that the deacon has admitted doing wrong, that in the pastor's words, "he has disciplined himself".

INCIDENTS LIKE the one involving the Dayton Avenue Church of God deacon who stood by and did nothing while a 14-year-old schoolgirl was being gang-raped in a van he was driving, can turn people's mind away from the Church, according to Rev. Devon Dick, pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St. Andrew.

He believes the Church runs the danger of seeing an exodus of young people if such unwelcome behaviour becomes a trend. Rev. Dick has expressed outrage at the act which he calls "premeditated and dastardly."

The Gleaner-Bill Johnson poll that was conducted on May 13 and 14 in 84 communities across the island's 14 parishes found that people had a problem with the Church because of clerics' unconventional sexual conduct worldwide.

A whopping 66 per cent of those polled said recurring stories of Roman Catholic priests in other parts of the world molesting and having sex with youngsters, especially young boys, was a problem.

By MARY THERESE BIEBEL mbiebel@leader.net
Back in his office after comforting a bereaved family, Father Gerald J. Gurka turned his attention to a matter even more unsettling than loss of life – the loss of innocence that accompanied the priest sex scandal.

“My initial feeling? I was angry,” Gurka, who is pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Larksville, said late last month. “I don’t want to judge, but I got angry that people would use their position to knowingly do something that hurts another human being.

“It hurt the church. It hurt the parishioners. It hurt everyone.”

The secrecy with which the hierarchy handled many cases – shuttling suspect priests from one assignment to the next – only made a bad situation worse, Gurka said.

“Secrecy isn’t healthy. Any awareness is a step in the right direction,” said the 51-year-old priest who grew up in Nanticoke. “You have to admit what’s happening first.

By MARK GUYDISH
mguydish@leader.net
It’s a sunny spring Saturday in a still sleepy Montrose and Gerard “Father Gerry” Safko flashes a disarmingly warm smile in the chilly basement of the Holy Name of Mary Church rectory. He offers a few quips about a failed turkey hunt before settling into serious business: Child sex abuse.

Safko comes across as easy going, but he has taken on the heavy task as facilitator, or trainer, for the VIRTUS program, adopted by the Diocese of Scranton in the wake of the priest sex scandals. Every cleric, every employee, every volunteer who deals regularly with children, throughout the 11 county diocese gets some training to recognize suspicious behavior, prevent abuse and report concerns. There is a separate program for Catholic school students.

This is not optional. It is a mandate promulgated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as part of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, enacted in 2002. That makes the Catholic Church a rarity.

By comparison, other organizations often make such training optional. The Boy Scouts of America, for example, have a voluntary online course. TheAbuse Tracker YMCA provides manuals that local organizations can incorporate into their training.

By DAVE JANOSKI djanoski@leader.net
“Fortunately Mom didn’t know anything about all this. If she had known anything about it, it would have killed her.”

Andrew Caparelli Father Robert Caparelli’s brother

The Scranton Diocese had fair warning about Father Robert Caparelli.

Twice in his 27 years as an active priest, police officers had alerted Caparelli’s superiors to allegations that he molested boys.

But except for a monthlong stay in a Catholic rest home, where he was interviewed by a psychologist and psychiatrist, it appears the diocese did little beyond moving Caparelli from assignment to assignment until he was arrested on child-abuse charges in 1991.

By DAVE JANOSKI djanoski@leader.net
For years, Roman Catholics in the Diocese of Scranton didn’t know that priests accused of sexually abusing minors continued to preach in their churches, hear their confessions and teach their children.

But their bishops knew.

As early as the 1960s and as late as 2002, the Scranton Diocese knowingly employed priests who had been accused of sexual misconduct, according to court documents and diocesan statements.

A Times Leader investigation, including interviews with alleged victims and a review of eight lawsuits, some of which had gone largely unreported, revealed allegations that church officials disregarded warnings of abuse or merely reassigned accused priests, sometimes with dire consequences.

Bishop Emeritus James C. Timlin – a diocesan official since 1966 – was personally aware during his administration as bishop from 1984 through 2003 that at least five of his priests had been accused of sexual misconduct with minors, according to lawsuits and diocesan statements.

DUBLIN -- For the 8:30 a.m. daily mass at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral, an imposing old church just off O'Connell Street in the heart of Dublin, you might expect to see Father O'Sullivan at the altar. Or perhaps Father O'Reilly or Father O'Flaherty.

Father Owuamanam comes as a bit of a surprise.

But Remigius Owuamanam, a priest from Nigeria, is a good reflection of the changes that have overtaken both church and society in Ireland during the last 20 years.

Like most of its continental neighbors, Ireland is undergoing a severe crisis of faith. Religious belief in this island bastion of Roman Catholicism is under siege by the twin forces of secularization and modernization. In addition, the recent exposure of a deeply ingrained culture of sexual abuse and cover-up by the clergy has dealt a staggering blow to the church's prestige.

July 08, 2006

SPOKANE — In this city of 200,000, where the Catholic Church has long been a political and social force, the bankruptcy of a diocese and the sex scandal that caused it have created deep divisions.

Parishioners are afraid of losing their schools and churches to help pay damage awards to abuse victims. Victims feel they've been branded as villains out for money. Some Catholics have lost confidence in their bishop's ability to guide them out of the mess — morally or fiscally.

And as the bitter bankruptcy case drags well into its second year, most everyone involved is feeling frustrated, if not anxious and weary.

But finally on Friday, parties in the case gathered before a judge in Reno, Nev., to begin mediation talks aimed at settling with victims and leading the diocese out of bankruptcy. No resolution is expected from the talks this month, and already, another meeting has been scheduled for August.

BY BETTY WADE COYLE
July 8, 2006
Anyone who has tuned in to NBC's "Dateline" in the past several months, has been exposed to one of the freakiest reality shows ever. It is a series called "To Catch a Predator," and for those who missed the stories the first time around, a recap of the shows is available on the network's Web site.

The basic premise of the show is to use trained adult decoys to lure sexual predators via the Internet to a house to have a sexual liaison with a young teen. When they arrive at the "home" of the intended victim, the show host, Chris Hansen, confronts them with a barrage of questions while the cameras are rolling. And the perpetrators come in droves - 18 men to a home outside New York City; 19 men to a Washington, D.C., suburb; 50 men in Southern California; 18 men in Greenville, Ohio; and 24 men in Fort Myers, Fla.

Even scarier, these criminals are not the sleazy guys in the trench coats we expect to see. While a few were registered sex offenders, most were not. Most were regular people that we and our children see every day. Teachers, youth workers, firefighters, a doctor and even a rabbi were caught up in this sting. Many perpetrators had children of their own, and one man even brought his 5-year-old son with him to the anticipated rendezvous.

A SENIOR member of a church run by retired Appeal Court judge, Martin Wright, stood by and did nothing while schoolboys in a van he was driving gang-raped a teenage girl and video-recorded the act.

Justice Wright, pastor of the Dayton Avenue Church of God, confirmed that he knew of the incident, but rejected suggestions of a cover-up, saying that there was no evidence a deacon had participated in the act.

"He [the deacon] was present, but we don't have any evidence of him molesting the child," Justice Wright told The Gleaner.

The Gleaner obtained a copy of the 35-minute amateur recording, with its graphic details of the assault, from sources dissatisfied with how the incident had been handled by the management of Justice Wright's Dayton Avenue Church of God, in St. Andrew. At least one of the boys may have had a connection with the church.

The church is reported to have taken disciplinary action against the deacon but Justice Wright declined to explain what this meant, saying it was internal church business.

POLICE YESTERDAY detained at least one of the boys involved in sexually molesting a schoolgirl, which was captured on tape in the presence of a church deacon who allegedly stood by and did nothing.

This brings to three the number of persons taken in for questioning as the police investigate the incident. The senior church official and the boy who captured the ordeal on video were picked up Wednesday night.

The latest police action comes less than 24 hours after The Gleaner broke the chilling story which has left parents and teachers in shock.

THE Half-Way-Tree police yesterday raided the house of the deacon of the Dayton Avenue Church of God, who allegedly watched as a group of young men indecently assaulted a girl in the back of a van.

"An operation was carried out at the deacon's house today and we found other tapes. We have not been able to go through all the tapes but a copy of that tape (of the young girl being assaulted) was in his possession," said Superintendent George Quallo.

According to other police sources, the raid also led to the discovery of an empty bottle of Spanish fly (a liquid aphrodisiac).

THE ISSUE here is not one of guilt or innocence. That is a matter for the courts. Our concern is with doing what is right and of adults taking responsibility. On the face of it, there was not much evidence of this recently at the Dayton Avenue Church of God, where, ironically, a retired justice of the Court of appeal, Martin Wright, is the pastor.

So we assume that Mr. Wright knows more than a thing or two about temporal law as well as the law of God and the morality of the Christian faith. Which is why we are more than a little bit confused about the behaviour of Pastor Wright and his church in the case of the alleged gang rape of a teenage girl, and the video-recording of the incident by school boys in a van being driven by a deacon of the Dayton Avenue Church. One of the boys is apparently connected to the church.

Two of the boys who were allegedly involved in the case have been detained and the deacon has been questioned. The vehicle is in police custody. The appalling fact, though, is that the police only became involved in this case after they were made aware of the matter by this newspaper, which had come in possession of a copy of the disturbing recording.

By Amy Sherman
asherman@MiamiHerald.com
The Rev. Neil Doherty will ask a judge later this month to free him of his electronic ankle monitor. Doherty, 64, appeared in court this morning before Broward Circuit Judge Susan Lebow, who postponed his hearing until July 21.

After the brief hearing, Doherty's attorney, David Bogenschutz, said the monitoring device is disrupting Doherty's sleep and hurting his leg. They will present medical testimony about the problem at the July 21 hearing. Lebow previously denied a similar motion.

The former priest at St. Vincent's Catholic Church in Margate is accused of drugging and raping a young boy over a five-year period. Doherty is expected to go to trial next year.

He posted a $70,000 bond, and has been living with his sister in Palm Beach County for several months. Bogenschutz said his health is not good, but declined to offer details. Doherty, in a gray pinstriped suit, did not speak during the hearing.

By Fintan Deere in Ireland: A West of Ireland parish priest, Canon Niall Ahern, who has been allowed to return to ministry after an investigation found no basis for allegations of impropriety, has received an enthusiastic welcome back to his parish.

Canon Ahern was removed from his parish at St Patrick's Church, Strandhill, Sligo last February because of a complaint against him going back to the late 1970s.

Two months ago, Ireland's director of pubic prosecutions, James Hamilton, said there were no grounds for prosecution and this month, Bishop Christopher Jones of Elphin announced that a canonical investigation had also exonerated Canon Ahern.

"No taint or suspicion attaches in any way to the priest," Bishop Jones stressed.

By Bruce Gerstman
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Joseph Piscitelli was an altar boy who attended Mass nearly every Sunday growing up in Richmond. He found refuge in the Catholic Church.

On Friday, his attorney told a jury that a priest at Salesian High School sexually abused Piscitelli about 35 years ago.

"Joe has been betrayed," his attorney, Richard Simons, said in his opening statement. "The deepest loss to him is losing a place of refuge, a place of solace."

The abuse never happened, says the attorney representing the Salesian order. Piscitelli fabricated a tale. "This is a case of a troubled man who has wrongfully accused a priest of abuse," said Wayne Mason, a Texas-based attorney representing the Salesian order.

The Church in Britain is in crisis with declining attendance, patchy commitment among adherents, child abuse scandals and challenges to authority. It needs new solutions if it is to have a future. The case for new strategic thinking. ...

5. Protecting our children

The child abuse scandal from the 1970s to the present day is recounted in detail for the first time. This chapter relies on original research and reveals that the tendency to cover up has deep historical roots. Suggestions for how the Nolan Review’s recommendations can be revised. The Church needs to acknowledge the specific aspects of Catholic culture that have contributed to abuse, and initiate genuine cultural change.

Modesto Reyes, the pastor at a Hartford Pentecostal church, was driving an 11-year-old girl home from a church event last summer when he allegedly parked the van near an empty loading dock, got in the back seat of the van and took his clothes off, according to court documents released Friday.

The pastor then allegedly lifted up her skirt, pulled down the girl's underwear and held her down as he forced her to have intercourse with him, the girl told detectives.

It was the first of four times that Reyes, 52, sexually assaulted the girl between August and December 2005, the records say. Though the first incident happened in the church van, the girl told police that the other three incidents happened in Reyes's office at the Iglesia De Dios, Cristo Te Llama, church on Broad Street.

KINGMAN, Ariz. - Compelling testimony about how polygamous marriages work, coupled with birth certificates, proved enough for a Mohave County jury to find a Colorado City, Ariz., man guilty of two sex-crime charges Friday.
The jury found Kelly Fischer, 39, had engaged in sex with a 16-year-old girl he took as a plural wife about six years ago and that it occurred in the home they shared in Colorado City. Prosecutors had contended Fischer, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, conspired with Warren Jeffs, the faith's leader, and the girl's mother in arranging to have sex with her.
The jury took just over an hour to reach its verdict, despite the lack of testimony from a victim or a witness with firsthand knowledge of the crimes.

By Brian Liberatore
Press & Sun-Bulletin
OWEGO -- A lawsuit alleging the local Episcopal Diocese failed to act on an accusation of sex abuse and retaliated against the former rector who brought up the complaint will go forward in state Supreme Court.

The former rector of St. Paul's Church in Owego, David G. Bollinger, claimed in the suit that Bishop Gladstone Adams retaliated against him for raising allegations against another former St. Paul's rector, Ralph E. Johnson.

The diocese blocked Bollinger for the last year from performing his duties at St. Paul's. The diocese claimed that Bollinger misused money while rector at the church. Bollinger said the diocese invented the claim as a means of retaliation.

By Heather Ishimaru
July 7 - KGO - The Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese is at the center of yet another priest sexual abuse scandal. This time the accused priest is believed to have fled the country. Now activists are demanding Catholic officials be prosecuted for delaying a report on the abuse.

The furor over priest sex abuse cases in recent years seems to have had little preventative effect in Sonoma. A 12-year-old boy is the victim in an April incident and critics belive that Catholic officials' delay in reporting the accusations gave the priest time to get away.

Ochoa was a priest at Sonoma's St. Francis Solano Parish. Published reports say he admitted to sexual misconduct.

Members of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, delivered a letter to the San Francisco Diocese today. They say the Catholic officials who reported the abuse should also be prosecuted for waiting four days to notify law enforcement.

July 07, 2006

By NICK HENDERSON
08jul06
A SCHOOL had given warnings to a religious studies teacher whom it knew had been acting inappropriately with female students just months before he had sex with two of them, a court has been told.

The District Court yesterday heard Sunil Francis Clark had sex with two students despite warnings from St Mark's College in Port Pirie about his behaviour around young girls.

The Catholic school had been told Clark had been "brazenly flirting" and talking about sex with 16-year-old students before his offending, it was alleged in court.

Clark, 33, of Elizabeth East, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse by a teacher and one count of indecent assault in 2001.

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- It is a secret one man has held inside for 25 years until now. We will call him "Dave", and he is the latest person to accuse Pastor Bob Gray of molestation.

In the months that First Coast News has been working with JSO sex crimes investigators and the State Attorney's office on this case, more than twenty women have told detectives Dr. Gray molested them as girls.

"Dave" is the first male to come forward. And that's why "Dave" wanted to share his story.

"I believe [there's] other people out there just like me," he said in an exclusive interview.

The following is an exclusive excerpt from Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes, a recently-released book authored by Thomas P. Doyle, A.W.R. Sipe and Patrick J. Wall.

The sexual crisis of the present time is not a new phenomenon. Sadly, past realities are being reincarnated in the American church today. Integrity and credibility are sorely lacking. As corruption of the priesthood becomes ever more evident, and the credibility of the hierarchy is ever more compromised, the social contract with the laity becomes strained to the breaking point. It is not a problem of politics or public relations and cannot be cured by either. The demise of obedience to church leadership is not the cause of the crisis in the church, it is a result of clerical malfeasance. Respect, trust, and obedience can no longer be expected from the laity. But, with genuine charity on all sides, this crisis provides an opportunity to revivify the pastoral care of the church and a chance to rededicate the priesthood to celibate integrity and the hierarchy to honesty and accountability. What else is a reformation all about? Charity will win out in the end.

Finally, victims should act as the church they are. In 1517, the church could claim that a "functional diocese had no need for lay interference." Legislation from that time defines the five functions of a diocesan priest in order of importance: First the priest was to preserve his image; his behavior should not provide cause for scandal about the priesthood or the church. Second, a priest's most important function was to protect the income of the church. Third, a priest was the protector of the "sacred," the church building, its vessels, and vestments. Fourth, a priest had the cura animarum or duty to hear confessions, distribute communion, administer the last rites, and to instruct his flock. And fifth, a "priest functioned as an agent of the bishop, transmitting and receiving information concerning the desired diocesan order."

The most sued priest in St. Louis has been sued again. Michael McGrath is facing his 21st lawsuit. This one is from a man who claims he was sexually abused as a boy by McGrath. The man's name is not in the lawsuit. He says he was fondled at least once in the mid to late 1970s when he was ten or eleven years old. He says he did not remember the incident until a few months ago. McGrath was removed from the ministry last year.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane has reached agreements with two more insurance carriers on payments to cover sexual abuse claims as the diocese's bankruptcy case heads into mediation.

In a statement issued late Thursday, Bishop William S. Skylstad said CNA Insurance had agreed to pay $3.5 million and the Washington Insurance Guaranty Association, which took over the policies of defunct Home Indemnity Co., just under $1 million.

Counting interest, Skylstad said in the statement, the settlements boost the total to more than $20 million from six insurance companies to help settle claims of sexual abuse by priests that led the diocese to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2004.

A group of sexual abuse victims Thursday urged Sonoma County prosecutors to "seriously consider filing charges" against four Catholic diocese officials whose delay in reporting alleged sexual abuse by a Sonoma priest may have allowed him to flee to Mexico.

Standing on the courthouse steps, members of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, implored District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua to investigate why it took Santa Rosa Diocese officials at least four days to report to authorities admitted sexual misconduct by fugitive priest Xavier Ochoa.

"We're here to beg him to make more aggressive efforts to prosecute this admitted child molester and church officials who knew what happened and failed to ... follow the law and call police," SNAP spokeswoman Mary Grant said.

Ochoa's "escape from justice may have been helped by five or more church employees," she said.

The four officials singled out by the group were Bishop Daniel Walsh, Msgr. James Pulskamp, the Rev. Frank Epperson and the Rev. Daniel Whelton.

LOS ANGELES (National Catholic Register) – In the minds of parents, abuse of children is always a crime, no matter who does it and where. But some lawmakers – and the media – seem determined to ignore some abuse.

When a federal report, ordered by Congress and chartered by the U.S. Department of Education, exposed rampant sexual abuse in public schools throughout the country, politicians and the mainstream secular press corps all but ignored it. Though the media ran daily stories about old allegations involving Catholics, the federal report estimated that 422,000 California public school students would be victims of sexual misconduct by educators before graduation – a number dwarfing the state’s entire Catholic school enrollment of 143,000.

By contrast, during the first half of 2002, the 61 largest newspapers in California ran 1,744 stories about sexual abuse in Catholic institutions, referring almost entirely to decades-old allegations. During the same period, those newspapers ran four stories about federally exposed sexual abuse in public schools.

The most-sued former priest in St. Louis was sued again Thursday by a man who says he was abused 30 years ago as an altar boy and student at St. Ferdinand Church in Florissant.

The 20th lawsuit against Michael McGrath alleges that he fondled the boy, identified only as "John Doe GJ," at least once on an outing sometime between 1976 and 1978. At the time, McGrath was an associate pastor and teacher, and the boy was 10 or 11 years old, the suit says.

The man, now around 40 years old and living in Missouri, did not remember what happened until sometime in the past year, said lawyer Ken Chackes.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Dr. Bob Gray, already facing charges he molested young girls decades ago while pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, was rearrested Thursday on an additional count of sexual battery. This time, the alleged victim is a young boy.

Gray, 80, had been free on $25,000 bond on three counts of capital sexual battery filed in May.

Gray, pastor of Trinity for nearly 40 years, also headed the church's primary school and college. In previous charges, he was accused of molesting young girls in his office and on church grounds in the early 1980s.

Gray retired from Trinity in 1992, but remained active in revivals and Bible conferences across America and in Europe.

Anne Burke was sworn in Thursday as the state Supreme Court's newest member during an hourlong ceremony packed with local powerbrokers, including former Gov. James R. Thompson, who was instrumental in starting Burke's judicial career when he appointed her to the Court of Claims in 1987.

"I become No. 7, the junior justice of the court, and I know exactly where I am to sit in the dining room of the Supreme Court," Burke said to the laughing crowd after she took the oath of office in a packed Daley Center courtroom. Her husband, Ald. Ed Burke (14th), stood by her side as her new colleague, Justice Charles Freeman, swore her in. ...

Anne Burke, who is credited with founding the Chicago Special Olympics and who chaired the lay panel that investigated sexual abuse allegations against clerics in the Catholic Church, spoke of the challenges of graduating from law school at age 40 and her drive to assist the most vulnerable.

Catholic dioceses in the United States "appear to be running through their reserves at an alarming rate," Francis J. Butler, president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, told theAbuse Tracker Leadership Roundtable on Church Management June 29.

The round table, a gathering of more than 200 top Catholic executives in business, finance, law, philanthropy, academia, nonprofits and church institutions, including a dozen bishops, met in Philadelphia to discuss ways to improve the church's fundraising and financial management and reporting practices. ...

He said the Boston Archdiocese, which has faced major economic setbacks in the past several years --- in part because of the clergy sexual abuse crisis and action on long-overdue parish closings --- took a big step forward this spring with its detailed, audited financial report. "The local church's more open policy is already making huge strides toward reuniting the community and rebuilding trust," he said.

At a dinner that evening the Boston Archdiocese received the round table's first "Best Practices Award" for its financial reporting.

Statutes of Limitation
It is important to recall why legislatures enact statutes of limitation. Prompt claim-making helps remove dangerous conditions and people so that others are not injured. In Colorado, for example, one cannot sue a government agency unless one serves notice within 180 days of the wrongful act. The legislature enacted this early notice requirement so that public entities can promptly remove threats.

Good legal systems seek accurate adjudications. Memories fade. Documents are not retained. SNAP's "window" legislation results in claims being made, in some cases, long after the alleged perpetrator is dead. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles is now defending cases involving allegations against 68 dead priests. Half the lawsuits against the Diocese of San Diego arose from conduct alleged against 24 dead priests.

How can an adjudication be accurate when the only other person present during the alleged wrongful conduct is dead? In most cases with dead alleged perpetrators, the seminary professors, pastors, vicars general and bishops under whom they served are also deceased.

LOS ANGELES (National Catholic Register) – If you’re tempted to say: Of course they cover abuse more in a religious context, think again.

Consider this scenario: More than 500 victims of childhood sexual abuse sued this institution for more than $400 million. The institution, acknowledging sexual abuse by adults in its schools, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy to save its property and other assets from liquidation.

Though it sounds like a blockbuster lawsuit against the Catholic Church, it’s not. It’s the untold story of a 2004 lawsuit against Hare Krishnas in the United States.

Unlike sexual abuse charges against Catholics, the lawsuit failed to inspire press coverage or state legislation designed to aid victims’ lawsuits.

Mediation of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane's bankruptcy case is scheduled to begin today in Nevada following several major legal developments that have reshaped the case.

The region's Catholic parishes, worried about the potential sale or mortgage of churches and other properties to settle clergy sex-abuse claims, enter into the mediation with more leverage as a result of recent legal rulings.

The one-day mediation session led by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Zive of Reno, Nev., is not expected to achieve a breakthrough. The sides have already agreed to a weeklong August session in Spokane.

WATERVILLE -- Last week the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland permanently removed Toni Breton from her position as church organist for Parish of the Holy Spirit in Waterville for allegedly having improper sexual acts with a minor about 30 years ago.

The church said it followed its Code of Ethics -- a code of behavior all church employees and volunteers who work with children had to read and sign -- in making its decision.

Breton's lawyer, Michaela Murphy, argues that whatever document the church followed, the resulting actions against Breton amounted to a travesty of justice.

An organization of clergy abuse victims Thursday called upon Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua to prosecute the bishop and any priests and officials in the Diocese of Santa Rosa who did not immediately report alleged sexual misconduct by the Rev. Francisco Xavier Ochoa.

The district attorney's office has filed 10 felony and one misdemeanor charge against Ochoa for alleged sexual offenses against three underage boys between 1988 and last April.

Ochoa, 67, the assistant pastor of St. Francis Solano Parish in Sonoma, admitted the most recent offense against a 12-year-old boy and two other offenses years before to Bishop Daniel Walsh and other priests on April 28, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department. Ochoa disappeared on May 1 and is believed to be in Mexico.

WORCESTER— Sime M. Braio, the former Shrewsbury man who rocked the local Catholic church in 2002 with charges that he had been sexually abused as a teenager by Auxiliary Bishop George E. Rueger, was found dead Monday in an East Side apartment.

Sgt. Gary J. Quitadamo said Mr. Braio’s body was discovered by police about 6 p.m. in an apartment at 90 East Central St., in the city’s Shrewsbury Street neighborhood. Mr. Braio was believed to be about 55.

Police, who were called to the scene by another resident of the building where Mr. Braio had been living over the past few months, do not suspect foul play.

Daniel J. Shea, a lawyer who had represented Mr. Braio in litigation against Bishop Rueger, said Mr. Braio had been ill for some time with a host of maladies, including cardiac problems.

Mr. Braio filed a civil suit in July 2002, alleging that the molestation by Bishop Rueger began when he was 13 and continued when he was older. According to the suit, the sexual abuse resulted in behavior that eventually landed Mr. Braio in the former Lyman School for Boys in Westboro.

Santa Rosa, Calif. (KCBS) -- The Sonoma County District Attorney's office is being urged to investigate the Catholic Diocese following another case of alleged clergy sexual abuse.

KCBS' Mark Seelig reported that members of SNAP, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, delivered a two-page letter to the District Attorney's office, asking the office to conduct a thorough investigation into the role the Catholic Diocese played in the case of Rev. Xavier Ochoa.

The reverend was accused of molesting young parishioners at St. Francis Solano Parish in Sonoma.

Rev. Ochoa was removed from the ministry after voluntarily admitting to inappropriate behavior with a minor to Bishop Daniel Walsh in late April.

By TOM HEINEN
theinen@journalsentinel.com
Posted: July 6, 2006
The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is going ahead with plans to sell the Cousins Center in St. Francis and has launched a major communications effort, partly to prepare its 700,000 Catholics for what might be "staggering financial consequences" as 10 lawsuits filed against it by victims of clergy sexual abuse move toward trials in California.

Katherine Freberg, an attorney representing eight of the victims, said Thursday that the archdiocese has expressed interest in seeking settlements while also indicating "there's a possibility they will file for bankruptcy."

"When we hear that from a defendant, we are very suspicious that a mediation would not be very fruitful," added Freberg, who noted that average settlements of clergy sexual abuse lawsuits in California "certainly are over $1 million."

07.07.06 - Santa Rosa Diocese officials waited three days to report a sexually abusive priest to authorities in April. Now two Catholic organizations, outraged by the delay, are asking the diocese to reform church policies regarding sexual abuse and have asked the county district attorney to file charges against church officials.

A lecture by an American rabbi accused of sexual improprieties by several of his New York congregants, scheduled to be held in Jerusalem on Thursday night, was cancelled, following threats of protests and a flood of complaints, activists said.

Mordechai Tendler, a scion of a prominent rabbinic family, was expelled unanimously last year by the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) after the organization decided that he had "engaged in conduct inappropriate for an Orthodox rabbi." In March, he was also suspended by the board of Kehillat New Hempstead, the New York synagogue that he founded. Tendler, who is currently in Israel, was scheduled to speak Thursday in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Har Nof. A protest was scheduled to take place outside the event.

"This is definitely a victory," said Leah Marinelli, a former congregant from New York, Wednesday. Marinelli was one of the first community members to speak out against the rabbi and convinced some of his alleged victims to come forward publicly to the RCA.

The way The Herald News has characterized the Joliet Diocese and its former bishop, the Most Rev. Joseph Imesch, regarding the abuse of children has been tragically flawed.

Of course, any child who has been abused by a priest is one too many. In reality, though, the situation in the Joliet Diocese is better than — sometimes far better than — average when compared to other dioceses in the United States in terms of percentages of priests who have abused children, numbers of victims, and monetary costs to the diocese. Unfortunately, some of the writers, columnists and editors portrayed the diocese and Imesch in a way that made Joliet seem like one of the worst places in the country. The paper has a responsibility to provide not only facts, but to put the story in proper perspective. They failed miserably in that.

Also, not enough attention has been paid to the actions of Imesch and the diocese since 2002. The diocese's response with the program of Protecting God's Children and safeguards put in place to protect young people has been exemplary. These should have been mentioned more and commended in newspaper reports. Many readers were intentionally misled these past four years into believing Joliet was somehow one of the worst dioceses or a particularly problematic diocese, when it clearly was not.

A former Raton, N.M., priest who once oversaw a parish in Clayton, N.M., will learn his fate in September after pleading guilty last month to taking a minor out of the country and having sex with him, court documents show.

George Silva entered his plea June 12 before U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera in a New Mexico federal courtroom in Albuquerque, according to court documents.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 28.

A federal grand jury indicted Silva in February on two counts of transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and two counts of travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct, court records show.

By Paul Donovan in London: The Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults (COPCA) has reported a drop in the number of cases involving Church personnel from 100 (2004) to 60 (2005).

The publication of the annual report of COPCA showed 60 reports of alleged abuse involving some 75 victims being passed on to the police. Of the 21 incidents that allegedly occurred during 2005, five involved allegations of abuse by priests - two sexual and two physical plus one of possession of child abuse images.

There were 16 other cases involving employees, volunteers and parishioners, 10 of which were allegations of sexual abuse. The remaining 54 victims were abused in preceding years going back to the 1930s.

The figures show the next highest years for abuse as being the 1980s with 16 and the 1970s with 15.

Thursday, July 06, 2006
By DAN RING
dring@repub.com
BOSTON - Victims of childhood sexual abuse would have up to 25 years to report their cases for possible criminal prosecution, according to a bill approved by a legislative committee.

The Judiciary Committee voted on Friday to extend the statute of limitations for childhood victims of sexual abuse from the current 15 years to 25 years. Because the deadline for reporting the crime starts when the child reaches age 16, victims would have until the age of 41 to report sexual abuse crimes.

It was the statute of limitation that stopped any consideration of prosecuting Bishop Thomas L. Dupre, the former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, after a grand jury indicted him on two counts of child rape in 2004, according to Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett.

The Archdiocese of Hartford is about to sell a little piece of "Heaven" - and could make a nice profit from it.

The church bought the four-room waterfront cottage in Old Saybrook - dubbed "Heaven" - for $525,000 from retired priest Daniel McSheffery, who was accused of sexually assaulting eight former students. A sale is pending on the property, which real estate agents estimate could sell for at least $800,000.

The land deal was quietly completed as part of a $22 million settlement announced last November between the archdiocese and a group of 43 plaintiffs who claimed they had been sexually assaulted by 14 priests affiliated with the archdiocese.

Sources familiar with the land deal said the archdiocese forced McSheffery to give up the cottage because three victims had filed liens against the property and those parties would not agree to the settlement unless the property was taken away from the priest.

When he was 21, Thomas Millane stood in a smoky pool hall in Binghamton, N.Y., and realized there had to be more to life.
He approached his pastor and told him he wanted to become a Catholic priest. The pastor told Millane the church wasn't ready for him because he hadn't gone to college and had had a somewhat rebellious youth.
So he studied at a monastery in Massachusetts and eventually found his place in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. ...
Millane has faced trying times with the church.
In 2004, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson filed for bankruptcy protection as it faced litigation regarding sexual abuse of children by priests.
Some of the cases stemmed from the sexual abuse of boys by a priest at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in the 1980s. Millane said if he had known such things had taken place in his parish, he would not have tolerated it. He talked to those who were abused when they were older and they said it had devastated their lives.
The church needs to acknowledge and repair its wrongdoing, he said.
"We need to address it and face it and say we're guilty," he said.

MONTPELIER — A Vermont judge should be blocked from overseeing civil cases involving alleged sexual abuse by priests because he has shown "bias and prejudice" against the church, according to the statewide Diocese of Burlington.

"The threats that were issued from the bench" warrant the removal of Chittenden Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph, David Cleary, a lawyer for the church, said on Wednesday.

But lawyers arguing for the plaintiffs in more than 20 pending lawsuits against the church over alleged abuses said the diocese is trying to intimidate the judiciary.

"To disqualify Judge Joseph here would be a very dangerous thing to do," said Jerome O'Neill, who called the church's motion "a hatchet job" and "an attack on judicial independence."

We are writing this opinion column as lifetime Catholics who are sickened and furious with the response of the Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa to the most recent known case of child abuse perpetrated by a priest. The diocese includes Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

According to news reports, on April 27, Xavier Ochoa, then a priest at St. Francis Solano Catholic Church in Sonoma, revealed to a fellow priest, Frank Epperson, that he had committed a sexual crime against a child. Ochoa was charged last week by the Sonoma County DA with 10 felony sex abuse offenses involving three minors. You are probably thinking that he is in the Sonoma County jail, awaiting prosecution. No. His whereabouts are unknown, although it is suspected Ochoa has fled to Mexico. And the Catholic bishop of Santa Rosa is partially to blame for Ochoa's disappearance.

Of course, Bishop Walsh doesn't feel that way. He wrote a letter, dated June 23, to the Catholics of the diocese, to “set the record straight.” The letter is available for the public to read at http://www.santarosacatholic.org/bishop/letters/index.html. Unfortunately, the letter only confirms that, once again, the church hierarchy failed to respond appropriately when faced with criminal conduct on the part of one of their own.

July 05, 2006

Funny how perceptions change when sordid tales about a person are dug up. Like the priest in the Cebu archdiocese mentioned in earlier reports as having been involved in “inappropriate liaisons” with two altar boys in the States 20 years ago. After I surfed the Net and got his identity, I was shocked. You just can’t judge people on mere appearance.

The first time I attended a mass officiated by the priest, and that was years ago, I thought he had charisma. He has this presence in the pulpit and his voice can bring the faithful to rapt attention. There is also creativity in his handling of the ritual, which is probably why he has been increasingly relied upon to handle some major church events.

But that impression was molded from afar, in much the same way that people’s appreciation of priests in general are formed by acts that merely skim the surface of their characters: the way they deliver their homilies, their gentle voice, etc. As a result, many parishioners end up defending priests who are accused of misconduct, like rape.

THE Roman Catholic Church in Britain is facing its greatest threat since the Reformation, according to research.

Over three decades Mass attendance has slumped by 40 per cent, baptisms by 50 per cent, Catholic marriages by 60 per cent and confirmations by 60 per cent.

The 260-page study of the Church indicates that the number of adult converts fell by 55 per cent and first communions by nearly 40 per cent, described as the “greatest pastoral and demographic catastrophe” since the Reformation of the 16th century. ...

In The Future of the Catholic Church in Britain, Tom Horwood said: “The Church in Britain is suffering from a terminal decline in membership, irregular commitment among the remnant, and, in the wake of persistent child abuse scandals, a leadership of bishops and priests that has toppled from its pedestal with a mighty crash.”

A Senior parish priest has been cleared of a sexual abuse allegation dating back to the late 1970s.

Canon Niall Ahern, the parish priest of Strandhill, Co Sligo, has been reinstated into the active ministry, it was announced yesterday through the Catholic Communications office in Maynooth by the Bishop of Elphin, Christopher Jones. "No taint or suspicion attaches in any way to the priest," a statement by the diocese said.

"He enjoys the complete confidence of the bishop as he re-affirms him in full and ongoing ministry in the diocese," the statement added.

PHILADELPHIA -- Church officials have removed the pastor of a Roman Catholic parish after concluding he had abused a child while teaching at an archdiocesan high school in the 1970s.

The Rev. John F. Hummell, 66, was ordered to step down last week from Sacred Heart Parish in Oxford, and was banned from serving anywhere as a priest.

Hummell, who has left the Chester County parish, has denied the allegation. He will not talk to reporters, a church spokeswoman said Monday.

The archdiocese took action after a 10-month investigation of an allegation received in October, officials said. In a statement, the church provided no details of the case against Hummell beyond saying the inquiry had taken months because the allegation was "particularly complex."

By Danielle Portteus
Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
news@toledofreepress.com
Claudia Vercellotti, co-leader of Toledo Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said every day since her Sept. 2005 fire is a challenge. The fire destroyed virtually all her possessions, including documents to fight clerical abuse.

Lt. Richard Bosak said the fire investigation is continuing.

“We have received a lot of phone tips because of the person's name,” he said. “We can do follow-up things through interviews.”

Lawyers are scheduled to argue today about whether a Chittenden County judge should be removed from hearing lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington alleging sexual abuse by priests.

The diocese -- facing 21 claims filed by people who say they were victims of abuse and having settled one case for nearly $1 million -- asked in May that Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph step down from presiding over the pending cases.

Diocesan attorneys argued in court papers that Jo-
seph has issued a spate of biased rulings against the church that necessitated the settlement and made it nearly impossible for future trials to be fair.

Plaintiffs countered that Joseph's decisions have been impartial and proper, and they accused the diocese of "judge shopping" and trying to intimidate the judiciary.

A FORMER spiritual director and bursar of Gormanston College was remanded on bail for sentence last week at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, where he pleaded guilty to six sample charges of indecent assault on boys at the school between 1974 and 1981.

Fr Ronald Bennett (71), with an address at Dun Mhuire, Seafield Road, Killiney, Co Dublin, had been sports master at the east Meath boarding school at that time.

Niall Muldoon, senior clinical psychologist at the Granada Institute, told the court that the defendant had undergone “considerable therapy” there over the past seven years. He was categorised at the lowest level of a re-offending risk.

Witness added that the defendant was “ill-equipped for the position of spiritual director” when appointed in 1963. In dealing with sex education matters, the defendant was unable to distinguish between the boundaries in relation to his own sexuality.

Pat Zielinski said she was abused by a Catholic priest as a teenager, but people did not believe her.

“People either didn't believe me or didn't want to,” she said. “People felt if I said anything I would hurt the good clergy — I needed to have a voice, but I didn't have one.”

Zielinski's need for someone to listen to her led her to write the novel “Behind the Stained Glass,” published in 1998. The recent murder conviction of a Toledo priest and new lawsuits (see page A11) have Zielinski speaking out about her experiences.

Zielinski, a Toledo resident, attended a Catholic boarding school from 1957 to 1965 in Michigan, less than half an hour from the border.

By Paul Legall
The Hamilton Spectator
SIMCOE (Jul 5, 2006)
A Roman Catholic priest apologized and asked for forgiveness yesterday before he was sentenced to five years for sexually abusing two altar boys.

One of the teenagers was molested when the 56-year-old cleric took him to the Vatican to meet the pope.

Apart from handing down the jail term, Ontario Court Justice Martha Zivolak ordered Father Konstanty Przybylski to provide a DNA sample and placed him on the sexual offenders data bank for 20 years.

She said his crimes were aggravated by the fact that he was a Roman Catholic priest and had violated the trust of the community as well as the teenagers who regarded him as their spiritual mentor.

By Craig R. McCoy
Inquirer Staff Writer
The pastor of a Catholic parish in Chester County was removed by church officials last week after they concluded he had abused a child while teaching at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia in the 1970s.

The Rev. John F. Hummell, 66, was ordered to step down at Sacred Heart Parish in Oxford, and banned from serving anywhere as a priest. Hummell has denied the allegation. He will not talk to reporters, a church spokeswoman said yesterday.

The archdiocese took action, officials said, after a 10-month investigation of an allegation received in October. In a statement, the church provided no details of the case against Hummell beyond saying the inquiry had taken months because the allegation was "particularly complex."

The complaint against Hummell came one month after a Philadelphia grand jury issued a scathing report accusing the archdiocese of a decades-long coverup of extensive abuse by scores of priests.

The sentence will be handed down today for a former Port Dover priest. Father Konnie Pryzybylski will be back in at the Simcoe Courthouse today after pleading guilty to three charges of sexual assault.

The Legislature will take up a compromise bill that would give victims who were sexually abused as children 25 years to report criminal cases to authorities.

The proposal, endorsed by the Joint Committee on the Judiciary where it had languished, extends the current statute of limitations by 10 years, giving childhood victims until they are 41 years old to report sexual crimes. But it does not abolish the statute all together as proponents had wanted, and as the legislation moves to the House, it is drawing fire.

Eliminating statutes of limitations for sex crimes has been a simmering issue for years. Opponents say limitations minimize the risk of people being wrongly convicted many years later, when evidence is scarce and memories have faded. Advocates say the limits hinder justice for victims of sexual abuse.

State Representative Eugene L. O'Flaherty, the House chairman for the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, said that through testimony, he learned most victims come to terms with childhood abuse between ages 28 and 34. Democrat O'Flaherty, who was previously leaning toward a 5-year extension, said giving victims 10 more years would ``absolutely cover the bulk of the individuals as was represented to us."

MONTPELIER, Vt. --Lawyers for Vermont's Roman Catholic Diocese and people suing the church for alleged sexual abuse by priests are set to argue this week over whether the judge in the case should be removed.

The diocese asked that Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph be removed from hearing more abuse cases after he issued a series of ruling adverse to the diocese in connection with one of the cases in April.

David Cleary, the church's lawyer, said he particularly objected to Joseph's lifting of a gag order after the church reached a $985,000 settlement with a South Burlington man, a move that prompted extensive news coverage.

The release of details in the case involving retired priest Edward Paquette will make it difficult for the church to get a fair trial in 15 more suits alleging he abused boys while serving in parishes in Burlington, Montpelier and Rutland in the 1970s, Cleary said. Two other former priests also have been named as abusers in one suit each.

By B. Lee Coyne, MSW Special for Salem-News.com
This column is written in the heat of summer about a hot-button topic that has for far too long been hidden in society's closet. It is time that it sees the light of day. That topic is incest's impact on male victims, which is at times trivialized.

(SALEM) - I am by no means an expert on sexual abuse, quite the opposite, having grown up in a hugely Victorian family on the East Coast. But over the last decade, as a Clinical Social Worker in Oregon, I have had nearly a dozen adult male clients who retain the trauma left by childhood incest and abuse.

In one case, the victim was actually transferred from the home of an alcoholic mother to foster care with a church elder. Reportedly the elder had a dying wife, and chose to molest his young teenage ward as a substitute for his perverted hormones. In another case, both parents allegedly molested their little boy to the extent that he required surgery.

Such sick scenarios may be far more extensive than we wish to acknowledge. The recent public scandal involving pedophile priests may merely be the proverbial "tip of the iceberg". Why the male reticence to step forward? Probably because we males are socially conditioned not to appear weak and helpless. If a grown man admits to victimization, that shatters our public image of self-sufficiency. You will find far more women in therapy than men, based on the premise above.

AN Anglican priest Sunday charged that sexual misbehaviour among the clergy was a serious problem and called for the removal from front-line duties of those who "feed sexually" on members of their flock.

"It is immoral, unchristian and unethical for the shepherd to feed on the sheep sexually or otherwise, instead of tending the sheep," declared the Rev Father Patrick Cunningham, rector of Christ Church, Vineyard Town in East Kingston.

Cunningham also warned that clergymen guilty of sexual abuse should not merely be shifted to another parish, saying that simply shifting such clergy did not solve the problem, "it only shifts the problem to another parish".

Delivering the homily before a large congregation at the ordination mass for three members to the Anglican clergy at the historic St James Cathedral in Spanish Town, the St Catherine capital, the priest urged his listeners not to focus only on homosexuality but the wider topic of sexuality among the laity and clergy.

Allegations of sexual abuse purportedly committed about 30 years ago have caught up with a local pastor.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Monday that after a preliminary investigation, the Rev. John F. Hummell, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Oxford, has been asked to step down from his ministry effective immediately.

"This was a very emotional announcement. It’s a very difficult time for the parish and I think people are reeling," said Donna Farrell, director of communications for the Archdiocese. "It’s a very painful time for the parish, as well as the Archdiocese."

According to a release, the Archdiocese received an allegation in October 2005 that Hummell had sexually abused a minor in the mid-1970s, when he was a teacher at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. It was the only allegation of sexual abuse of a minor received by officials regarding Hummell.

Farrell said the Archdiocese does not discuss specifics of a case, "mostly out of respect for the victim."

July 03, 2006

Detectives have charged Leamington's Catholic leader with child pornography offences.
Father Anthony Michael Jones, 55, who joined St Peter's church in Dormer Place in November, has been charged with 17 counts of making indecent images of children.
An inquiry began after police seized a computer from the church's parish office and Fr Tony was arrested on June 12 and released on bail pending further inquiries.

WATERVILLE -- The family of a longtime organist for the Parish of the Holy Spirit on Sunday blasted Maine's Roman Catholic Church as arrogant and unjust in dismissing their mother from her church duties for allegedly having inappropriate sexual contact with a minor about 30 years ago.

The Roman Catholic Church of Portland announced Saturday that Toni Breton, a Waterville resident, would no longer be allowed to function in a ministerial role in the church after the church validated the charges against her by a person the church has declined to identify.

In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Richard J. Malone wrote that "I find that claims of improper sexual acts with a minor have been substantiated."

Monday, July 03, 2006
By BILL ZAJAC
wzajac@repub.com
The handwritten letter by the Rev. Edward O. Paquette, a Westfield resident, to Bishop John A. Marshall of the Burlington, Vt., diocese, was a failed attempt to be honest about Paquette's sexual attraction toward boys.

Paquette, who previously departed two other Roman Catholic dioceses after being accused of sexually abusing boys, was asking Marshall for another chance to be a priest.

"I did have problems but received medical treatment, and I am cured now," the March 18, 1972 letter stated without a specific reference to sexual abuse.

The state's chief administrative judge will hold a hearing Wednesday on a Vermont Catholic Church request that she bar a trial judge from presiding over almost two dozen priest misconduct lawsuits.

The statewide Diocese of Burlington decided to seek the removal of Chittenden Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph from its cases after he oversaw a record $965,000 settlement in an initial lawsuit this spring.

The church claims Joseph's rulings in the civil case of Michael Gay versus the Rev. Edward Paquette — most specifically, the fact the judge let lawyers talk publicly after the settlement — has jeopardized the diocese's ability to receive a fair trial in the future.

The church had asked Joseph to recuse himself, but he instead forwarded the request to the state's chief administrative judge, Amy Davenport. She is scheduled to hold a one-hour hearing on the motion July 5 at 1 p.m. at Washington Superior Court in Montpelier.

July 02, 2006

Thiruvananthapuram: The Pettah police have arrested two persons, including a pastor, in connection with the rape of an 18-year-old Dalit girl.

Circle Inspector, Pettah, Salim Kumar, identified the accused as Stellus (48) and Lear (45). Stellus is a music teacher hailing from Pattoor and Lear works as a pastor for a religious mission.

According to the police, Stellus had sexually exploited the girl while she was his student. Lear has been accused by the police of raping the girl after she joined the religious mission. The police were looking for one Sivaji of Pettah and Reji of Barton Hill in connection with the case. An Excise department guard is also likely to figure as accused in the case along with nine others.

"Deliver Us From Evil": A story in Monday's Calendar about the documentary "Deliver Us From Evil" reported that Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said that he and attorneys for Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and the church had viewed the film Thursday. In fact, Tamberg said he and members of his staff had seen it, not any attorneys.

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Judiciary has at last reached a reasonable compromise on the issue of extending the statute of limitations on crimes involving the sexual abuse of children - one that should be passed before lawmakers adjourn later this month.

Victims of abuse and their advocates have lobbied hard to lift the statute of limitations entirely in the wake of their own frustrations in pursuing cases, particularly against priests whose crimes were long covered up by officials of the Roman Catholic Church. Currently those abused as children have until 15 years after their 16th birthday to report such crimes to have them prosecuted. Only if the abuser leaves the state - as some had done - does the clock stop ticking.

The bill reported out Friday extends that deadline another 10 years, allowing for a total of 25 years after the victim reaches age 16. It is a difficult balance to achieve, but the current proposal is far better than the five-year extention favored earlier by Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty (D-Chelsea). And before the ink was dry on the compromise, the state’s bishops and Cardinal Sean O’Malley lent their support, while once again apologizing to the victims of clergy sexual abuse.

Judith Weiss Collins of Lehigh Valley, Pa., alleges that a priest of the Allentown diocese — still in public ministry — raped her at gunpoint on two separate occasions, once in 1985 and once in 1988.

She also alleges she had been ritually abused by the same priest from 1961 through 1968 on the property of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Philadelphia archdiocese. She was 9-years-old in 1961.

Collins says she did report the two alleged rapes to the assistant DA in Northampton County in 2002; the alleged ritual abuse was reported to the DA's office in Philadelphia; and Crime Victims Council was notified in 1985 and again in 2002. She also says two diocesan officials found her account credible and apologized to her, but that the accused priest denied the allegations when confronted by the bishop.

July 01, 2006

A Catholic high school in Richmond agreed to pay $700,000 to settle allegations that it knew a teacher had abused one of its students but failed to act on the accusation.

Salesian High School admitted no wrongdoing.

The plaintiff, a 17-year-old senior at the time, said that a lay history teacher, Samuel Vittone, sexually abused him in 1979. He also said the school knew Vittone had "in the past engaged, and was continuing to engage in unlawful sexually related conduct with minors ... but intentionally suppressed, concealed or failed to disclose this information," according to records in Alameda County Superior Court.

Attorney John Manly, who filed the suit in December 2003, said there was "unequivocal evidence" that school authorities knew about the past abuse by Vittone.

The Rev. Thomas P. Doyle, a Catholic priest in the Dominican order, was asked in 2002 to do research for the church on whether its current leadership had ever had notice of sexual abuse of children by clergy.

“When I started the research, I found that it goes back to the fourth century at least, and that there is extensive evidence,” Father Doyle said in a recent telephone interview from California.

The priest, who lives in Vienna, Va., teamed up with A.W.R. Sipe, a Benedictine monk-turned-counselor, and Patrick J. Wall, a former Roman Catholic priest and Benedictine monk, to write the hard-hitting expose, Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes: The Catholic Church’s 2,000-Year Paper Trail of Sexual Abuse (Volt Press, $29.99).

“One of my conclusions was that this is not a crisis that arises from time to time, but that clerical celibacy violations are an unfortunate part of the very life of the Catholic Church.

In a chilly Petaluma storage space off Lakeville Highway lie the remnants of the Rev. Xavier Ochoa's life, an existence ruptured by sex abuse charges.

There's the toy police car sticking out of a box, a white ceramic clock with a broken minute hand lodged between boxes of books and picture frames and a shallow box of prescription drugs sitting on a box of clothes.

And there are the photos, hundreds of them, showing the fugitive priest from Sonoma conducting countless religious ceremonies such as baptisms and weddings.

The many smiling faces reflect a Latino community that seemed to love him.

Last week, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office filed 10 felony sex abuse charges against Ochoa, a former assistant pastor at St. Francis Solano Catholic Church in Sonoma. The charges involve lewd conduct with three minors, forcible sodomy and forcible oral copulation.

Two months after identifying the Rev. Xavier Ochoa as a child-molest suspect and a week after issuing a warrant for his arrest, authorities still don't know the whereabouts of the Catholic priest who served in Sonoma County since 1988.

Investigators believe the fugitive priest, who left town in early May, is in Mexico, putting Ochoa "beyond our immediate reach," Sheriff's Sgt. Dennis O'Leary said.

Church officials said they, too, do not know where Ochoa is.

But detectives continue to work the case, trying to determine whether there are more than the three victims already identified, he said.

The 10 felony child sex abuse charges and one misdemeanor filed against Ochoa on June 23 were based on sexual misconduct allegations involving a 12-year-old boy in April and incidents years ago involving two males who are now adults.

It is forgiveness, not justice, that brings repentance and reconciliation, Boston College theologian Roberto Goizueta said in a Catholic Common Ground Initiative lecture June 24 at The Catholic University of America.

Before the lecture, Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk of Cincinnati presented Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta with the initiative's 2006 Cardinal Bernardin Award. The award recognized the Atlanta archbishop's efforts to bring healing to the U.S. church in the wake of the 2002 crisis over clergy sexual abuse of minors.

Archbishop Gregory was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2001, just two months before the Boston Globe began an investigative series on clergy sex abuse in Boston that quickly burgeoned into a nationwide outcry.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The first of eight trials alleging sexual misconduct with minors by men from a polygamist community on the Utah-Arizona border will begin next week, despite the inability of prosecutors to locate some witnesses and alleged victims.

In a news release issued Friday, Mohave County, Ariz., Attorney Matthew Smith said a jury trial for Kelly Fischer will begin Wednesday in a Kingman district court and is expected to last two days.

Fischer, 38, is charged with one count each of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor for his alleged "spiritual marriage" with a 16-year-old girl that occurred between October 2000 and March 2001. Prosecutors have constructed the time frame for the marriage from birth certificates of the girl and her first child.

CORNWALL, ON, June 30 /CNW Telbec/ - The Commission of the Cornwall
Public Inquiry has established a research agenda for Phase I of the Cornwall
Public Inquiry that will result in a series of reports on institutional
practices and policies in different jurisdictions.
This research is the first in a series of research-focused undertakings
that will play a vital role in the overall work of the Inquiry. While various
components of the research agenda will develop over the life of the Inquiry,
the main functions of all research work will be consistent - it will serve as
one important tool to support Inquiry recommendations, particularly in respect
to any future changes, and a critical and accessible source of education for
the public.

BOSTON — A key Statehouse committee is recommending the state extend the statute of limitations for victims of child sexual abuse by 10 years.

The limit is now 15 years. The Judiciary Committee recommended Friday extending that to 25 years.

Advocates for victims of child sexual abuse had pushed for lifting the statute of limitations completely, saying it sometimes takes decades for victims to face the abuse they suffered as children.

The state's four Catholic bishops, including Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley, praised the recommendation in a written statement.

"The Commonwealth's law enforcement officials should be given the tools they need to remove sexual predators from our communities. We support the proposed increase in the criminal statute of limitations for the sexual abuse of children," the statement said.

COLUMBUS - Ohio set out without benefit of a road map yesterday to create an unprecedented on-line civil registry of accused sex offenders who may never have been convicted of a crime, charged with one, or even successfully sued.

With no similar plan tried in any other state, rules proposed by Attorney General Jim Petro provide insight into how the program would work.

The general idea was proposed last year by the Roman Catholic Church when faced with a unanimous Ohio Senate vote to open a one-time, one-year window for the filing of civil lawsuits in child sex abuse cases dating back as long as 35 years ago.

The bill would have allowed victims to sue not only their alleged abusers but also those they claimed covered for them.

The 62-year-old former pastor was summoned for questioning on Thursday and afterwards was officially charged in the case.

"I was told that this is purely a formal charge. The police wanted to examine my computer and must file charges to be able to do this," the ex-pastor told news agency NTB.

The 62-year-old said he did not view the latest development as dramatic, and that he had not contacted an attorney.

"I have already put all my cards on the table," he said.

Police captain Magne Storaker of the Vest-Agder police said that the woman involved had yet to give a statement and also had no desire to release the former pastor from his pledge of confidentiality. The pastor resigned his position a week ago.

WILTON -- A 79-year-old Wilton man charged last week with attempted unlawful sexual contact with a boy during a church function was a former minister who stepped down two years ago following a similar charge that involved a girl.

Alton Walston, who is charged with the Class C felony of attempted unlawful sexual contact, no longer has ministerial credentials, The Rev. Rick Stoops, the superintendent of a Pentecostal organization in Maine, said Friday.

In 2004, Walston was charged with felony unlawful sexual contact but after negotiations, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of unlawful sexual touching. He was sentenced to 364 days in jail, all suspended, and one year probation, which expired in April. Because it was a misdemeanor, he was not required to file as a sex offender with the state.

Boston College is preparing to launch the nation's first graduate program to train priests, nuns, and laypeople who manage Catholic parishes and organizations, an effort to help the Catholic Church respond to the widespread criticism of its administrative, financial, and personnel practices during the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

The Jesuit university's decision to offer degree programs in church management is the latest in a series of steps BC has taken to confront the issues raised by the abuse crisis.

College officials say the efforts are motivated by a desire to help the church, but the program could also serve as part of an answer to occasional critics who have questioned the strength of the college's Catholic identity. The programs will be marketed to non-Catholics, as well as Catholics.

Less than one year after it emerged from bankruptcy, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson has received a record amount of donations in its Annual Catholic Appeal.

During "Amen Sunday" services this weekend thanking parishioners for their donations, parish priests will announce that the annual fund-raiser had collected $3.6 million in pledges by the time it ended Friday. That's the most the campaign has ever raised. The goal was $3.1 million.
The appeal funds 23 Catholic charities and ministries, including a seminarian-education fund, a lay-ministry training and formation program, the diocese's Marriage Tribunal and Catholic schools administrative offices, as well as the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Clinic, which gives medical care to people without health insurance.

Fifty years ago, I was sexually abused by a Catholic nun every night for two years in a southern Minnesota boarding school. After reading reports about sexual abuse by priests in 1990, I came to understand that I hadn't had an affair with a nun -- I had been criminally sexually abused.

Many difficulties in my life and the lives of my husband, three children, nine grandchildren and great-granddaughter stem from the abuse.

My husband and I have worked hard trying to gain justice and healing for us and for other sexual abuse victims of Catholic nuns and priests. Bishops will not intervene and help victims of nuns find restorative justice. Nuns are accountable only to their provincials and Rome.

Quotes from attorney Larry Drivon, who represented two of Oliver O’Grady’s victims and won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Stockton. He called O’Grady’s interviews with filmmaker Amy Berg “chilling.”

A documentary about Oliver O'Grady, the former Stockton priest who in 1993 was convicted of molesting two children, has won Best Documentary Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

"Deliver Us From Evil," produced by filmmaker Amy Berg, offers a disturbing look into O'Grady's mind through interviews with him given from his native Ireland. It documents his history of abusing children and levels a strong indictment against the Catholic Church hierarchy, claiming it failed to respond adequately to O'Grady's victims.

"I recognize in my life there had been a major imbalance," O'Grady says in the film's opening moments. "I want to promise myself this is going to be the most honest confession of my life."

Officials deported O'Grady to Ireland after his release from Mule Creek State Prison in 2000. He had served seven years of a 14-year sentence issued for his molestation of two young boys for more than 10 years. During his incarceration, his victims, Joh and James Howard, sued the local diocese and won a multimillion-dollar judgment that was eventually reduced to $7.5 million.